Hong Kong Police Shoot Protester Amid Clashes, Video Shows - The New York Times

HONG KONG — A Hong Kong police officer shot an antigovernment demonstrator on Monday, an escalation likely to inflame tensions in a financial hub already jittery over the recent death of a student involved in the protests.

The officer fired several shots on Monday morning toward two black-clad protesters in a neighborhood where traffic had been snarled by roadblocks, video footage from the scene shows. One of the protesters crumpled to the ground after being hit at point-blank range, and appeared semiconscious afterward.

The shooting on Monday came as pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong blocked roads and scuffled with riot police officers across the city as part of what had been billed as a citywide general strike.

Here’s the latest on the Hong Kong protests:

A rush-hour shooting.

• The video shows black-clad protesters standing on a corner of the intersection, one of them sprinting out of the frame. Suddenly, a police officer who is standing steps away, in a white T-shirt and neon vest, pulls his gun on a group of protesters surrounding him and fires several live rounds. (Cupid News, a self-described production house based in Hong Kong, broadcast the video live on Facebook from the Sai Wan Ho neighborhood.)

• “One round hit a man’s body, and he immediately fell to the ground, and there was blood on the ground,” Chan Cheuk-hin, a reporter for Cupid News who shot the video, told The New York Times. He said the shooting took place after 7 a.m. as the protesters blocked roads.

• The officer then tackles the protester he shot, as one of his colleague tackles another protester from the group. “Call the ambulance!” bystanders are heard yelling. The protester who was shot is seen lying quietly on the ground, surrounded by what appear to be pools of his own blood. Mr. Chan described him as seeming to be “semiconscious.”

Protesters disrupt traffic and clash with the police.

• Some roads were blocked and some light rail services suspended. But, so far, the disruptions were not on the scale of a citywide general strike in August that sank the city into chaos.

• The actions were timed to coincide with “Singles Day,” which gets its name from the date, Nov. 11. Originally an anti-Valentine’s Day celebration in mainland China, it has turned into an annual shopping phenomenon that generates billions of dollars in sales. The protesters urged a boycott of online shopping.

• In the Tseung Kwan O neighborhood, police officers in black uniforms and blacks masks chased activists from the intersection. The officers were carrying weapons marked with neon orange — presumably rifles loaded with sponge grenades. One officer raised his gun and fired at the back of a protester he was chasing. Onlookers started shouting at the officer. “Don’t open fire! You’re actually firing on people?”

• Nathan Tam, 53, a businessman who lives in Tseung Kwan O and was driving to Hong Kong Island on Monday morning, said he was commuting despite the disruptions because he had an afternoon meeting he couldn’t afford to miss.

  Mr. Tam said he was thankful that his son was studying abroad in Britain. “Otherwise, with his personality, he would probably be protesting and getting shot at right now,” he said.

Student’s death provokes outrage and questions.

• Tens of thousands of people gathered at a park outside the Hong Kong government headquarters on Saturday in memory of Chow Tsz-lok, 22, who died after falling from a parking garage amid protests last Monday. A constant stream of people left paper cranes and white flowers at a stage where speakers gave emotional addresses.

• Mr. Chow, a student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, suffered head and pelvic injuries when he fell one story. Some protesters have blamed the police for his death, but the circumstances of his fall remain unclear.

Beijing pushes scrapped anti-sedition law.

• The head of Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday said that the local government’s inability to pass an anti-sedition law was to blame for what he described as growing calls for Hong Kong’s independence.

• The proposed legislation, based on Article 23 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, would outlaw calls for independence and put the territory more in line with mainland laws for what China characterizes as treason. The bill was shelved in 2003 after a half-million Hong Kong residents protested.

• Six pro-democracy lawmakers were charged on Saturday in relation to scuffles on May 11, as Hong Kong’s legislature met to discuss the extradition bill. Lawmakers from the democracy camp said the arrests were part of a government plan to interfere with local elections scheduled for Nov. 24.

Katherine Li contributed reporting.

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