Hong Kong – Dozens of people in Hong Kong were charged on Thursday while taking part in a riot after a dispute between vendors and police on the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday.
It was described as the city’s worst violence since pro-democracy protests in 2014.
Reports say 64 people have been arrested in connection with the Monday night violence that saw protesters hurl bricks at police and set fire to rubbish bins in Mong Kok, a tough, working-class neighbourhood just across the harbour.
According to reports, 37 people were charged on Thursday.
Police fired two warning shots into the air, almost unheard in the former British colony which reverted to Chinese rule in 1997 and is considered one of Asia’s safest cities.
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More than 130 people were wounded in the clashes.
The violence has compounded a sense of unease since an “Occupy Central” pro-democracy movement in late 2014, that saw thousands of protesters block major roads, including in Mong Kok, to demand Beijing’s Communist leaders allow full democracy in the city.
At least one of those charged in connection with this week’s trouble belongs to a group called Hong Kong Indigenous, one of a cluster of outspoken groups calling for greater Hong Kong autonomy and even independence from China, the group said.
Hong Kong Indigenous confirmed to Reuters that one of its members, Edward Leung, had been arrested.
Leung, who had been planning to contest a by-election for the Hong Kong legislature, was one of those who appeared in court on Thursday.
The head of the University of Hong Kong student union, Billy Fung, said three of its students were also in court.
Reports say students from the university were at the forefront of the 2014 protests. (Reuters/NAN)