HONG KONG — Protesters in Hong Kong kicked off three days of civil disobedience on Saturday with a sprawling march that erupted once again into violent clashes with the police, as the embattled government takes a harder line against the pro-democracy movement.
Thousands occupied a major shopping district for hours, and some attacked police officers with bricks, gasoline bombs and paint-filled bottles. Deep into Sunday morning, streets in some of the city’s densest districts were convulsed by violence, clouds of tear gas and tense standoffs between protesters and riot police officers.
The occupations and continuing violence suggest that demonstrators are determined to keep pressing a broad range of demands for greater democracy.
This summer’s protests, which began nearly two months ago, have thrown Hong Kong, a semiautonomous Chinese city, into its worst political crisis since Britain handed control to China in 1997. Hong Kong’s government and the police are under pressure from Beijing to restore order as the protests become more unruly and as demonstrators increasingly direct their ire at mainland rule
The initial protests were prompted by opposition to legislation that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China. Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s unpopular chief executive, later suspended the bill and said it was “dead.” But she has refused to withdraw it formally, as protesters have demanded, or to make further concessions.
The protesters are also seeking Mrs. Lam’s resignation, direct elections, the retraction of the government’s characterization of aprotest on June 12 as a riot, the unconditional release of all protesters arrested and an independent inquiry into police violence against protesters.
Saturday’s unrest began with a police-approved march in Kowloon, a broad peninsula that sits across a harbor from Hong Kong’s main island. The march drew people of all ages, including some older people who chanted, “Protect our children!”
But some young protesters streamed past the official endpoint, marching south into Tsim Sha Tsui, a harborfront shopping area that is popular with mainland Chinese tourists. At one point, they removed a Chinese flag from a pole and tossed it into the harbor — a gesture that drew an outraged reply on Facebook from Leung Chun-ying, a former leader of Hong Kong.