PHOTOS: The violent clearing of protesters from Admiralty’s Lung Wo Road tunnel early this morning

Police and protesters clash on Lung Wo Road early this morning in Admiralty.

 

Last night a series of confrontations occured on Lung Wo Road in Admiralty, the site of numerous dramatic clashes over the course of the Umbrella Movement.

Soon after a rally in the early evening, protesters took Lung Wo Road with the police using pepper spray in the process. At around 1:25am, chaos erupted as riot and tactical police officers cleared Lung Wo Road in one fell swoop. The confrontation appeared to have sparked when some protesters starting pushing against police lines. Less than two hours later, protesters retook the tunnel, prompting a standoff with the police. 

At roughly 7am this morning, the police cleared protesters off of Lung Wo Road and Tamar Park. Pepper spray was used.
 

At midnight, the protesters were at a standoff against police at the top of the Lennon Wall steps, at one of the footbridge entrances to the Central Government Complex.

Young teenagers, presumably trainees of some sort, carried coolers to the officers behind the barricades.

The arrival of the coolers, which came in several batches, created tension among the protesters, who demanded to know the coolers’ contents.

The police officers assured them it was just food.

Lung Wo Road was retaken at this point, and things were calm for now.

Protesters stood off with tactical police on the West end of the tunnel.

Pro-democracy lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan showed up at the frontlines of the standoff. Some protesters heckled him, asking him where he was when the police used pepper spray earlier in the evening. Others offered him helmets and food, which he declined.

People watched (and some giggled) as this man cast “spells” or prayers of some sort towards the police officers, demanding universal suffrage. His shouts were often gibberish. Protesters said he had be doing that all day.

This large man urged protesters to charge at the police. Several people took heed and started to push against the police with him.

Lee desperately tried to stop both sides from charging.

The crowd started to become suffocating as both the police and protesters starting pushing.

The jostling became so fierce that numerous police officers, both riot and tactical, fell over on top of each other. The tactical police then took that as a cue to charge.

At this point, a police media liaison officer told the press to move to one side. Being in the middle of a large crowd, there was nowhere to move to, and I asked her where I should go. Before she could answer, a tactical police officer grabbed her and shoved her aside. 

It was an absolutely chaotic scene as the police pushed protesters off the roads and over barriers.

The crowd, now corralled away from the tunnel or off the road onto Tamar Park, were kept back by baton-wielding tactical police.

Tactical police grabbed umbrellas and shields from protesters and threw them backwards.

Crowds were pushed back to Tamar Park. The three protesters in the middle were taunting the police.

Demonstrators fell over as the police pushed them down steps. 

The crowd was now retreating north of Lung Wo Road as the police hung back a little on Tamar Park. In other spots around the park and Lung Wo Road, the protesters stood off against police.

Photos/Text: Laurel Chor



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