Clashes with police enrage demonstrators in Hong Kong

Hong Kong, Oct 15 (IANS/EFE) Violent clashes between the police and pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong early Wednesday further enraged the demonstrators on the 18th day of protests without any apparent hope of the crisis being resolved.

The clashes were the most violent since the confrontations started Sep 28.

Late Tuesday, hundreds of activists barricaded the streets near the parliament and government offices after forcing police to retreat from the spot.

Hours later, the police responded by using force and tear gas to disperse the protestors until they succeeded in opening the road to traffic.

Video footage by the regional TVB channel, which shows several policemen beating a demonstrator, triggered the anger and frustration of hundreds of residents of the island city.

The recording shows how six officers carry away a protestor and hit and kick him for four minutes, while the youth remains on the ground with his hands tied.

Hong Kong Secretary of Security Lai Tung-Kwok said that the officers involved in the video were removed from their posts while the police department was investigating the incident.

At the gates of the Hong Kong parliament, 21 members of the Pan-democratic Party Wednesday condemned the police action, terming it as "illegal".

Around 1,000 protestors continued to remain in the districts of the city the movement has occupied, while hundreds of tents have been set up in the Admiralty district that houses government offices.

The Mong Kok and Causeway Bay districts also saw hundreds of protestors taking to the streets.

The demonstrators are demanding universal suffrage in elections scheduled for 2017 to choose the next chief executive of Hong Kong.

Protest leaders condemned the police action and insisted that the Hong Kong government sit down for talks on electoral reforms in the Chinese aunonomous region.

--IANS/EFE

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