Chinese news agency slams ‘barbaric’ Hong Kong office attack

China’s state-owned Xinhua News Agency has denounced the attack on its office in Hong Kong by pro-democracy protesters as “barbaric.” The city’s journalists also criticized the attack on the media organization during Saturday’s melee that marked nearly five months of unrest in the Chinese territory. Xinhua in a brief statement strongly condemned the “barbaric acts of mobs” that vandalized and set fire to the lobby of its Asia-Pacific office building in the city.

Hong Kong Journalists Association called for an end to violence against the media. Hong Kong riot police fired multiple rounds of tear gas and used a water cannon Saturday to break up a rally by thousands of masked protesters demanding meaningful autonomy after Beijing indicated it could tighten its grip on the Chinese territory. It was the first strike against the official Chinese news agency in a show of anger against Beijing, a day after the ruling Communist Party vowed to tighten the grip on the violence in the city. Police say Sunday over 200 people were detained.