Hundreds of Hong Kong residents gathered in front of Tsang Chi-kin's school came to protest on Wednesday (October 2nd), when the 18-year-old demonstrator was wounded the day before by a live police fire during clashes. an unprecedented violence since the beginning of the protest.
The young victim was wounded in the Tsuen Wan neighborhood, about 10 kilometers from the city center, by a police officer who shot her at close range at the chest while her unit was attacked by protesters armed with umbrellas. and sticks.
"According to the latest information from the hospital, its current state is stable," said the government in a statement.
Since the beginning of the clashes between pro-democracy militants and the police, Tsang Chi-kin is the first demonstrator to have been shot at.
"Hong Kong has become a police state"
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets on Tuesday, intending to challenge Beijing to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic. This day gave rise to the worst violence in nearly four months of mobilization, and different areas of the city were, for hours, the scene of long confrontations.
The policeman who shot at Tsang Chi-kin did so because he feared for his life and "in a very short period of time, he made a decision and shot at the assailant," explained to the press. Stephen Lo, the chief of the Hong Kong police.
This version is disputed by protesters. They claim that the police officer went into the fray and took out his firearm.
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"Hong Kong has become a de facto police state," tweeted activist Joshua Wong, a figure in the pro-democracy movement of the former British colony.
According to Marco, one of his classmates Tsang Chi-kin, the latter was angry at the decline of freedoms in the semi-autonomous territory and the violence of police repression. "If he finds a problem or an injustice, he opposes it and faces it bravely, instead of silently supporting it," said Marco.
160 arrests, 6 shots
On Tuesday alone, the hospital authority said it had admitted more than 70 people, while the police reported 25 wounded policemen. Some were burned by a corrosive liquid thrown by the demonstrators, a liquid that also burned journalists.
The police also reported 160 arrests and fired a total of six times.
A total of 96 demonstrators, who were arrested on Sunday during a particularly violent day of mobilization, appeared in court accused of taking part in clashes with the police. They were between 14 and 39 years old. The majority of them were students in their twenties.
The colossal celebrations in Beijing of the Chinese Communist regime's 70th anniversary have been overshadowed by the violence that has rocked Hong Kong.
Mobilized since June, pro-democracy activists wanted to take advantage of this anniversary to shout out their resentment against Beijing, denounce the decline of freedoms and the violation, according to them, of the principle "One country, two systems "which presided over the surrender of the former British colony to China in 1997.
With AFP