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HONG KONG— Scores of people were injured in Hong Kong during a chaotic weekend of anti-government protests that left one man in a critical condition, authorities said yesterday, and China called for a tougher stance to end months of unrest.
Twelve police officers were also injured during the weekend clashes, with more than 300 people ranging from 14 to 54 years of age arrested between Friday and Sunday, police said.
Chinese state media called on Monday for a tougher line against the protesters, who vandalised the local offices of state-run Xinhua news agency and other buildings, saying the violence damaged the city’s rule of law.
More demonstrations are planned this week to keep up pressure for demands that include an independent inquiry into police behaviour and universal suffrage.
More than 100 demonstrators, some wearing now-banned face masks, returned on Monday evening to a shopping centre where a man had knifed several people on Sunday and bitten off a part of a politician’s ear before being beaten by protesters.
Those who gathered yesterday shouted at security guards and riot police who also briefly entered the complex in the eastern suburb of Taikoo Shing.— Reuters.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter