Violence mars end of huge Hong Kong protest against China extradition

A huge peaceful protest in Hong Kong against controversial plans to allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland descended into violence early Monday as police fought running battles with small pockets of demonstrators.

Organisers said more than a million people took part in the Sunday march - the largest protest since Hong Kong's 1997 handover to China - confronting the city's pro-Beijing leadership with a major political crisis.

The city government is pushing a bill through the legislature that would allow extraditions to any jurisdiction with which it does not already have a treaty - including mainland China.

The proposals have sparked an outcry and birthed an opposition that unites a wide cross-section of the city.

Sunday saw huge crowds march in blazing summer heat through the cramped streets of the financial hub's main island in a noisy, colourful demonstration calling on the government to scrap its planned extradition law.

The march passed without incident.

But shortly after midnight violence flared as police moved to clear small groups of protesters who had vowed to stay overnight outside parliament. Demonstrators hurled bottles built barricades as police moved in moments after the protest permit expired.

Officers used pepper spray hoses to push the crowds back, who shouted "We have a right to protest!" Skirmishes continued overnight as protesters and police played cat and mouse in the nearby streets.

The scenes were reminiscent of 2014, when police used tear gas against pro-democracy demonstrators, setting off two months of demonstrations that took over key intersections of the international finance hub.

Just hours earlier protesters had been celebrating the huge turnout, hoping it would prompt the government into rethinking the law.

"The government cannot ignore these numbers," protester Peter Chan, 21, told AFP. "If they really choose not to response to our demands we will not rule out more action."
For more than six hours on Sunday dense crowds snaked their way through the city chanting "Scrap the evil law!" and "Oppose China extradition!"