Police fire tear gas as large crowds defy Hong Kong mask ban

Hong Kong police fired tear gas at pro-democracy protesters on Sunday after tens of thousands hit the streets once more to defy a ban on face masks despite half the city's subway stations remaining closed.

Large crowds marched through torrential rain in unsanctioned rallies on both sides of Victoria Harbour Sunday afternoon.

Clashes soon erupted as police fired tear gas at protesters blocking roads and building barricades in at least three different locations.

Protesters have staged unsanctioned flashmob rallies across the strife-torn city in recent days -- some vandalising subway stations and shops -- after Hong Kong's leader outlawed face coverings at protests, invoking colonial-era emergency powers not used for half a century.

Pro-democracy lawmakers went to the High Court Sunday morning seeking an emergency injunction against the ban, arguing the emergency powers bypassed the legislature and contravened the city's mini-constitution.

But a senior judge dismissed their case.

The law allows the city's unelected pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam to make "any regulations whatsoever" during a time of public danger.

She used it to ban masks -- which protesters have used to hide their identity or protect from tear gas -- and warned she would use the powers to make new regulations if the unrest did not abate.

The ban was welcomed by government supporters and Beijing.

But opponents and protesters saw it as the start of a slippery slope tipping the international finance hub into authoritarianism.

And it has done little to calm tensions or stop crowds coming out.

"If Carrie Lam wants to de-escalate the situation, this is not the right way," a 19-year-old protester who gave his first name Corey, told AFP as he marched under a forest of umbrellas on the main island.

"Citizens are not afraid because of this law," added another protester, who gave his surname Leung and was dressed as a front-line protester.

"It only causes more people to defy the ban."
But opposition lawmakers said the use of such a law had deepened the crisis. "I would say this is one of the most important constitutional cases in the history of