Hong Kong: Protests against police violence after the death of a student

The death of a student after a life-threatening fall in a parking garage has triggered protests in Hong Kong again.

Hundreds of people joined forces on Friday for a spontaneous protest march against police brutality after the 22-year-old died of his head injuries in a hospital on Friday morning.

The accident had already happened on Monday. Although it is not clear why the student crashed, the demonstrators blamed the police.

Some media had reported that the man was an activist and had wanted to flee from police, and then seriously injured in the fall. Some demonstrators demanded "revenge" and called the police "murderers." Others wore white roses as a sign of mourning, rallies and vigils were heard at several places in the city.

The Hong Kong newspaper "South China Morning Post" reported that the student had fallen from the third to the second floor of the parking garage. According to police, the injured man was found about 120 yards from where the officers used tear gas on Monday.

Already in the past few days, students and members of the protest movement reacted with anger and horror to the 22-year-old's crash. Now it is expected that the disaster on the weekend could lead to a new wave of protests.

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Since the beginning of June, the Hong Kong people are demonstrating against their own government. They criticize a growing influence of the Beijing leadership on the former British Crown Colony. Again and again it comes to heavy clashes of police and protesters.

After being returned to China in 1997, the metropolis is governed by the principle of "one country, two systems". The seven million Hong Kong people are under China's sovereignty, but unlike the people of the Communist People's Republic, they enjoy rights such as freedom of expression and assembly, which they now fear.