The protests in Hong Kong's Kowloon district have wrapped up on this ninth consecutive weekend of mass demonstrations.
Here's what happened today:
- Rival protests: There was the main anti-extradition bill, anti-government march in Kowloon, and a smaller pro-police assembly in Causeway Bay's Victoria Park that ended in the late afternoon.
- Illegal assembly: The Kowloon march began in Mong Kok, but instead of finishing at the designated end point, protesters continued to Nathan Road. By deviating from the police-approved route, the march became an illegal assembly.
- Siege on police station: The protests quickly got ugly as night fell, with protesters surrounding and vandalizing the Tsim Sha Tsui police station. They broke car windows, lit a blaze outside the station, threw eggs, shone laser pointers at officers' faces, and graffitied obscenities onto the station walls.
- Showdown with police: Riot police were mobilized in the evening. Things got tense, with police firing tear gas and protesters throwing bricks, but the roads were cleared by 11:30 p.m.