Hong Kong police, protesters clash at rally held in support of China's Uighurs

Clashes broke out between Hong Kong police and protesters during a rally organised in support of China's ethnic Uighurs on Sunday.

The otherwise peaceful rally of several hundred people turned chaotic shortly after 5 pm (local time) when protesters took down the Chinese national flag from a pole in Edinburgh Place, Central.

Several riot police officers arrived at the scene and then found themselves outnumbered and surrounded by protesters, who accused them of disrupting their rally. Demonstrators hurled plastic water bottles and other objects and the officers, in response, pepper-sprayed the protesters, as per a report by South China Morning Post.

China has been accused of a mass crackdown against ethnic Uygurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang, with the United Nations and activists claiming that at least 1 million of them have been held in detention centers. China describes the facilities as training centers helping to stamp out extremism and give people new skills.