Hong Kong police move in to break up shopping mall protest clashes

HONG KONG: Hong Kong police moved in to break up scuffles on Saturday (Sep 14) between pro-China protesters and those denouncing perceived Chinese meddling, in an around a shopping mall.

They chanted "Support the police" and "China, add oil" at the Kowloon Bay mall, adapting a line used by anti-Hong Kong government protesters and loosely meaning: "China, keep your strength up".

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"Hong Kong is China," one woman shouted at angry passers-by who shouted obscenities in return in an angry pushing and pulling standoff.

The clashes spilled out on to the streets, with each confrontation captured by dozens of media and onlookers on their smart phones. Police detained several people.

Protesters complaining about perceived Chinese meddling in the former British colony came out in their hundreds across the territory on Friday, singing and chanting on the Mid-Autumn Festival, in contrast to the violence of many previous weekends when police have responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon.

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READ: Hong Kong hills shine with protest lights in Mid-Autumn Festival rally

They have also gathered in malls, with occasional scuffles with flag-carrying China supporters, often denouncing police for perceived brutality.

Anti-government protesters were on Saturday gathering in the downtown Central district and in the northwestern New Territories district of Tin Shui Wai.

On Sunday, they plan to gather outside the British Consulate on Sunday to demand that China honours a Sino-British Joint Declaration that was signed in 1984, laying out the former British colony's future after its return to China in 1997.

The spark for the anti-government protests was a now-withdrawn extradition Bill and concerns that Beijing is eroding civil liberties, but many young protesters are also angry about sky-high living costs and a lack of job prospects.

READ: Carrie Lam regrets foreign interference in Hong Kong's affairs, says more violence will not solve social issues

The Bill would have allowed people to be sent to mainland China for trial in Communist Party-controlled courts, but the