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Police repel a group of journalists after the dispersal of a rally in Chater Garden in central Hong Kong on January 19, 2020. Philip FONG / AFP

Several Hong Kong policemen were beaten by radical pro-democracy protesters on Sunday, on the sidelines of a new rally in a shopping district in central Hong Kong Island.

The violence began after the police dispersed to disperse the demonstration at Chater Garden Square in the Central district. A group of plainclothes police officers who were parliamentarians with the organizers of the rally were attacked by masked demonstrators who beat the officers with umbrellas, said an AFP journalist on the spot. At least two police officers had bloody faces.

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Riot police then intervened, firing tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd. Several people were arrested, including a protester who also had the back of his head bloodied.

More than seven months of protests

Hong Kong has been the scene of an unprecedented political crisis since June 2019 since the return of the former British colony to China in 1997.

The pro-democracy movement was born out of the rejection of a bill that would allow extraditions to China and has since been buried. The mobilization broadened its demands to demand democratic reforms and to denounce China's interference in the affairs of its semi-autonomous region.

Independent investigation

The demonstrators notably called for an independent investigation into what they presented as acts of police brutality during the demonstrations, but also the organization of free elections or even an amnesty for the thousands of people arrested since June.

But China, like the Hong Kong executive led by Carrie Lam, refuse any further concessions.

(with AFP)

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