Hong Kong on edge after historic night of vandalism, violence and tear gas

Hong Kong began picking up after historic protests left the legislature ransacked, the streets littered with spent tear gas canisters and the city’s Beijing-backed leader promising to push back against further unrest.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam used a dramatic 4 a.m. news conference to condemn the “extreme use of violence and vandalism” and defend the police’s decision to withdraw and leave the Legislative Council to a small but destructive group of protesters. Most of the violence was over by 1 a.m., after the last crowds of mask- and helmet-wearing demonstrators fled the area to escape hundreds of riot police firing