Published 15:19 IST, November 17th 2019
Hong Kong: Protestors resort to using bow and arrows and other medieval weapons
As the pro-democracy protesters resort to medieval weapons in Hong Kong, a police officer was hit by an arrow in the leg on Nov 16 while police fired tear gas
As the pro-democracy protesters resort to medieval weapons in Hong Kong, a police officer was hit by an arrow in the leg on November 16. The police officials were using tear gas and water cannons to contain the demonstrators who were occupying the university campus and surrounded the streets. According to the police, the arrow struck a media liaison officer who was taken to the hospital. The forces have also accused Hong Kong university of being the manufacturing base of petrol bombs and also to act as a refuge for demonstrators and criminals. Water cannon trucks were driven by police over bricks and nails strewn by the protesters and then sprayed them at close range.
Renewed clashes at university
The overnight clashes at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University resumed in the morning with police officials firing tear gas to hold out the protesters while the demonstrators used weapons like bows and arrows, catapults, and hundreds of gasoline bombs. The devices which are mostly made by students are denoted by the police authorities as lethal weapons and cautioned the protesters that they will get prosecuted if the authorities catch them. However, protesters feel that they need to protect the campus against the Hong Kong law enforcement who use tear gas, pepper spray as well as water cannons.
The sixth month of protests
As the city witnesses sixth month of the anti-government protests which have grown increasingly violent even as they have shrunk in size, often causing chaos in the streets of the city of 7.5 million people. The chaotic scenes of the explosion, gun fires, smoke plumes left scores of students injured. The police said that the protestors hurled debris and petrol bombs in a nearby highway linking the Northern New Territories with Kowloon, bringing traffic to a halt in a haze of tear gas smoke. The lawmakers of the city condemned the actions of the police and said that the continuous firing of tear gas has turned the university campus into a battlefield. Tensions initially escalated due to the death of a young man who fell from a multi-story car parking during the clashes with the police.
(With AP inputs)
Updated 17:47 IST, November 17th 2019