Hong Kong: Protesters clash with police at subway incident commemoration

Hong Kong police clashed with protesters on Saturday in the city's crowded Mong Kok area, with heavily equipped riot police employing tear gas and some protesters throwing Molotov cocktails and setting makeshift barricades on fire.

Footage shown by Hong Kong broadcaster TVB also shows police detailing protesters.

This came after people went to lay flowers at the entrance of the Prince Edward subway station, to commemorate a violent incident there six months ago.

On 31 August 2019, after a day of protests, riot police shut the station and stormed a subway car, hitting passengers with batons and pepper spray.

Police said that they used the minimum force necessary.

Many Hong Kongers do not believe the police account.

On Saturday night, police removed flowers placed by the public at the station, and guarded its entrance.

People gathered in the street nearby, and then small groups of protesters blocked the road, setting small fires.

Police emerged from the nearby Mong Kok police station to clear the roads but confrontations continued for hours.

One police officer, separated from his colleagues, drew his pistol to ward off an angry crowd, that was pelting him with plastic bottles and other objects.