Hong Kong turns to violence: protesters seem to be hit by a taxi and a man beaten with blood

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(CNN) - Hong Kong's political discontent took another dark turn on Sunday when a driver knocked down protesters with a taxi and a man was hit with blood by a mob, a video shows.

The violence took place when thousands took to the streets to participate in two marches in Kowloon and Hong Kong Island to express their opposition to a recent measure that prohibits people from wearing masks in public gatherings.

The law, enacted using the emergency powers of leader Carrie Lam, has provoked a violent reaction between protesters and concerns about the repression of civil liberties.

The incident involving the taxi was one of the most violent that the city has seen during the protest movement, which began peacefully but has seen protesters increasingly use violence and vandalism. The riots are now entering their 18th week.

• Is it safe to visit Hong Kong while the city is being shaken by mass protests?

The video uploaded to social networks shows one of Hong Kong's red taxis, driving slowly in a sea of ​​black-dressed protesters, turning left and accelerating towards the crowd.

Several other images and videos in the local media show what the sequels seem to be: a man, bloody and mistreated, beaten and kicked while on the ground next to the taxi. In one of the videos, you could see some people trying to intervene to help him and prevent the mob from harming him more. A police source told CNN that the driver was unconscious when he was rescued.

Demonstrators in favor of democracy set fire to a roadblock in Causeway Bay District, Hong Kong, this Sunday.

A protester throws a canister of tear gas at the police in Wanchai District in Hong Kong on Sunday.

CNN could not immediately confirm the circumstances that led to this incident.

The Hong Kong Hospital Authority said four people were sent to the hospital later. One was discharged and three are in serious condition, including the taxi driver, the hospital authority said.

Hong Kong police and the city fire department said they were not commenting on the images when CNN asked them.

Sunday's public assemblies were not authorized by the Government, and the police used tear gas and pepper gas to disperse those who participated. Several were arrested. Some protesters were seen throwing bricks and Molotov cocktails and setting fire to the street.

Hong Kong has been shaken by violent clashes and the city has been partially paralyzed since the government's decision, taken this Friday night, to use its emergency powers from the colonial era to ban people from wearing masks in demonstrations. Lam said the measure was "necessary" but insisted that it does not mean that Hong Kong is in a state of emergency.

Lam's political opponents said the law was unconstitutional and they fear he could presage more emergency measures, which gives him an effective white letter to make new laws as needed in the case of a severe breakdown of public order. However, emergency laws have not been tested in court since Hong Kong's return to China in 1997 and could be considered unconstitutional.

On Sunday, a judge of the Superior Court rejected an attempt by pro-democratic lawmakers to repeal the emergency law. On October 20, a hearing was scheduled for a judicial review of the implementation of the city's emergency measures.

Protesters shattered local government offices in Hong Kong this Sunday.

Lam's decision, regardless of its legality, caused anger among the protesters. Since its promulgation, they measure, have destroyed multiple train stations, set fire to the entrances and destroyed the ticketing facilities. Numerous banks and stores owned by mainland China have also been attacked, as have companies that expressed sympathy for mainland China. The law does not seem to have deterred people from wearing masks, as many people were seen wearing them during weekend demonstrations.

The vast majority of people who have attended the city's recent pro-democratic demonstrations do so with masks to hide their identity because they fear being arrested, attacked by the police or that their employers discover and punish them for their participation. Gas masks and respirators used to protect against tear gas, which are often used by authorities to disperse unauthorized meetings, have also become commonplace.

Lam called vandalism this Friday night and Saturday morning as "unprecedented" and said "the extreme acts of demonstrators with masks are frightening."

"We can no longer tolerate the troublemakers who destroy Hong Kong that we appreciate," he said.

• Chronology of Hong Kong protests: the evolution of a movement

On Saturday, the Hong Kong mass transit rail network (MTR) suspended all its operations for the first time during the political crisis, which is now entering its 18th week. The MTR opened on a limited Sunday.

On Friday night there was also a second protester wounded with a firearm in an incident in Yuen Long, the site of an attack on protesters by alleged Triad gangsters in July that has become a key war cry for the movement antigovernment.

Police said that after the agent was isolated by the protesters, “he fell to the ground and was beaten by the group. Faced with a serious threat to his life, he fired a shot in self-defense. A protester threw a gasoline pump against him and his body was on fire. ”

A video circulating online shows the agent, in a white T-shirt, rising from the floor when a gasoline pump hits him and engulfs him in flames. The officer staggers forward and manages to extinguish the fire in his clothes, but he seems very stunned. He drops his gun and is almost caught by a protester before throwing himself forward and manages to get away from them.

Police superintendent Yolanda Yu said he believed the shot in Yuen Long "was shot under the right circumstances."

Authorities said a 14-year-old boy was injured in the shooting, and hospital officials said early Saturday that the boy was shot in the left thigh and was in "critical condition."

A protest march on Saturday afternoon on the island of Hong Kong attracted a few hundred participants. They sang to repeal the mask law, but many chose to stay at home, some could not get there due to transportation interruptions, others did not want to risk not being able to leave when the police intervened and made arrests.

Sareena Dayaram, Jo Shelley and Maisy Mok, all from CNN, contributed reporting.

Hong Kong