Last month, 1,7 million people marched in a peaceful protest in Hong Kong.

The protests have been ongoing, some peaceful, some violent, as the people of Hong Kong push back against attempts by government to encroach on their rights and freedoms.

The most recent protest, which turned violent, marked the fifth anniversary of China’s government banning fully democratic elections in Hong Kong.

For more on the origins of the protest action, go here.

For now, over to the BBC for more on what happened this past weekend.

Images show police hitting people with batons and using pepper spray on a train in Hong Kong’s metro.

Police say they were called to the scene amid violence against citizens by “radical protesters”.

However it is unclear if all those injured and arrested in the metro system were involved in demonstrations.

The footage captured shows the extent of the police brutality:

The latest protests came just a day after several key pro-democracy activists and lawmakers in China’s special administrative region were arrested.

Hong Kong has now seen 13 successive weeks of demonstrations.

The movement grew out of rallies against a controversial extradition bill – now suspended – which would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial

Since the initial protest action, it has become a broader pro-democracy movement, setting the people of Hong-Kong against their leaders.

You can see more footage of the protest in the metro, here:

Hong Kong commuters were caught up in police violence after riot police moved into a subway car to detain suspected protesters. Read the latest on the protests: https://t.co/wk8kAnmdfE pic.twitter.com/qsV0EMi9aX

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) September 1, 2019

Forty people were arrested for “unlawful assembly, criminal damage and the assault of police officers”.

The videos seem to suggest that it’s the police doing the assaulting:

Warning: Police Violence.

This video was taken earlier today.

You may have seen footage of Hong Kong protests being less peaceful this weekend.

It’s because the people of Hong Kong are immensely angry at the police and their horrific brutality.

pic.twitter.com/CRIW2Byz7V

— Joshua Potash (@JoshuaPotash) September 1, 2019

While police attacked the protesters in the metro, others took to the streets in the Wan Chai district, many joining a Christian march, while others demonstrated in the Causeway Bay shopping district in the pouring rain.

Demonstrators – chanting “stand with Hong Kong” and “fight for freedom” – gathered outside government offices, the local headquarters of China’s People’s Liberation Army and the city’s parliament, known as the Legislative Council.

In the Admiralty district, some protesters threw fire bombs towards officers. Earlier, protesters had marched near the official residence of embattled leader Carrie Lam, who is the focal point of much of the anger.

Police later confirmed that they fired warning shots into the air to disperse protesters.

Eric, a 22-year-old student, told Reuters news agency: “Telling us not to protest is like telling us not to breathe. I feel it’s my duty to fight for democracy. Maybe we win, maybe we lose, but we fight.”

The recent demonstrations are for the most part leaderless, despite warnings from police not to engage in protest action.

For now, the protests look set to continue until the government concedes to the pro-democratic demands of the people in Hong Kong.

[source:bbc]