Prohibited protest: Hong Kong after the street fight

At the entrance to Victoria Park in Hong Kong, a single shoe, a pair of umbrellas and crushed glasses are on the floor. "The police drove the demonstrators here," says a young woman called Claudia.

On Hennessy Road, which connects the Wan Chai entertainment district to the Causeway Bay shopping district, Simon, a stout man in his early 30s, wears a uniform and two radios. He is a volunteer paramedic and is waiting to be used again. Police have surrounded a group of protesters, but the protest is slowly dissolving here.

Shortly before, Simon had treated a demonstrator hit by a tear gas cartridge. "Massive bruise," he says, "will be much bigger in the next few days." Most injuries happened through Molotov cocktails and rubber bullets. The paramedic believes he will be treating people for street battles for weeks.

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On Garden Road, which leads up to the villa quarters on Victoria Peak, an older man with a young couple is looking for the distance before the tear gas. "I support you!" he calls to a group of police officers preparing for their deployment in front of a sports center. "We happened to get into the demo," he says. "I'm for the police, but my children are for the protesters." His daughter and son-in-law smile sheepishly. Not again this debate.

All these are impressions of a city in which it came on Saturday again to heavy clashes between protesters and police. Near the seat of parliament, police fired tear gas and water cannons at demonstrators. Radical activists hurled objects, stones and incendiary devices.

Despite the ban on a mass demonstration, thousands had taken to the streets. The arguments lasted until the evening. Barricades burned, at the Victoria Park a police officer fired a warning shot into the air from his service weapon, as could be heard on a video. A water cannon sprayed blue paint on protesters, possibly to mark them.

DPA

Policemen direct blue-colored water jets at protesters

There were reports of indignation that police officers disguised themselves as activists and mixed in with the demonstrators to arrest people.

Paramilitary forces at the border

Possibly as a warning, Chinese state media reported that China's military had transferred new paramilitary forces to Shenzhen on the border with Hong Kong. In video footage military vehicles were seen, which rolled in the morning in the border town. Details about strength and purpose of the troop deployment were not mentioned.

The political mood in Hong Kong is also so heated because several leading members of the democracy movement have been arrested. Last Friday, the opposition members of the Legislative Council, Au Nok-hin and Jeremy Tam, were picked up. They are accused of obstructing the police. MEP Au also allegedly attacked a police officer. Indictment has been filed against a total of nine prominent heads of the movement.

DPA

Two protesters carry an injured person

Saturday had started with a peaceful march. The protesters responded to a call for a religious procession that led along prominent sacral sites toward the government district.

In the late afternoon there were roadblocks elsewhere. The police cleared roads extensively, with massive staffing, and arrested numerous people.

Further demos announced

For Sunday more demos are announced, but not yet approved. Sunday and Monday are to be demonstrated at the airport, this time not inside the terminal, but on the access roads. For Monday, the first day of school in Hong Kong, a student strike is planned.

Over the past three months, there have been mass demonstrations in the Chinese Special Administrative Region, often resulting in clashes between a small section of the protesters and the police. Many people fear a growing influence of the Chinese government on Hong Kong and a curtailment of their freedoms. They also demand an independent investigation of police violence during the protests.