Hong Kong experienced its worst violence on Tuesday since the pro-democracy protests in 2014. The cause of the melee was when authorities attempted to remove illegal street stalls set up for the Monday start of the Spring Festival.
Police fired warning shots during the clashes. In turn, demonstrators threw bricks at the police, destroyed street signage and burned trash cans in Mong Kok, reported Reuters.
As a result of the street violence, 90 Hong Kong cops had various wounds such as bruises and cuts, plus fractured bones. The injuries were caused by the police being on the receiving end of poles and sticks held by protesters, 54 of whom were detained. Both protesters and police officers had bloody faces, said Lo Wai-Chung, Hong Kong Police commissioner.
The stalls that was the reason behind the bloody clash were part of a street market which sold fishball and other Spring Festival food in a Kowloon community, according to Associated Press. Although the street market had been an annual tradition every Lunar New Year in Mong Kok, the police tried to remove the vendors and their stalls which led to the violence.
Demonstrators supported the vendors to show their objection to Beijing’s tighter control that has led to the disappearance of local Hong Kong culture.
Leung Chun-ying, the chief executive of the Special Administrative Region of China, said, “The (Hong Kong) government strongly condemns such violent acts. The police will apprehend the mobs and bring them to justice.”
After the bloody encounter, what remained were overturned flower pots, burned garbage bins, broken bricks, glass shards from bottles that were scattered along Nathan Road, a popular shopping strip that leads to the Tsim Sha Tsui harbor.