Hong Kong police fired tear gas to try to disperse hundreds of protesters, some of whom stormed the legislature, destroyed pictures and daubed walls with graffiti, on the anniversary of the city's 1997 return to Chinese rule on Monday.
Police arrived by bus and ran into position as about a thousand protesters gathered around the Legislative Council building in the heart of the former British colony's financial district.
Police fired several rounds of tear gas as protesters held up umbrellas to protect themselves or fled. Plumes of smoke billowed across major thoroughfares and in between some of the world's tallest skyscrapers.
Protesters had carried road signs, others corrugated iron sheets and pieces of scaffolding, as they barged into the council building. Some sat at legislators' desks, checking their phones, while others scrawled "anti-extradition" on chamber walls.
Other graffiti called for Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to step down, while pictures of some lawmakers were defaced.
"HK Is Not China" was painted in black on a white pillar.
The government called for an immediate end to the violence, saying it had stopped all work on extradition bill amendments and that the legislation would automatically lapse in July next year.
A small group of mostly students wearing hard hats and masks had used a metal trolley, poles and scaffolding to charge again and again at the compound's reinforced glass doors, which eventually gave.
The Legislative Council Secretariat released a statement cancelling business for Tuesday. The central government offices said they would close on Tuesday "owing to security consideration", while all guided tours to the Legislative Council complex were suspended until further notice.
Riot police in helmets and carrying batons earlier fired pepper spray as the standoff continued into the sweltering heat of the evening. Some demonstrators removed steel bars that were reinforcing parts of the council building.
Banners hanging over flyovers at the protest site read: "Free Hong Kong."
DEAN NAPOLITANO,
Riot police fired tear gas at protesters outside Hong Kong's Legislative Council office early Tuesday and moved into the parliament to clear out demonstrators who earlier stormed the building.
Hundreds of protesters with makeshift shields had broken into the LegCo building late Monday, bringing in materials, railings and other debris to set up barricades inside the building. Some daubed graffiti on the walls.
Demonstrators, many in their teens, clad in black T-shirts used carts and metal poles to smash through windows at the parliament building, while police in riot gear stood on the other side of the glass doors. Other protesters hurled eggs, plastic water bottles and cardboard signs into a secure area behind high gates and walls, where police were positioned.
Protesters issued a statement requesting that Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam directly responds to the demands of the people, and prevent any "crackdown on the public demands and avoid any injury."
The breach came after hundreds of thousands of people marched peacefully through the city's streets demanding the retraction of a controversial extradition bill on the anniversary of the city's handover to China from Britain. Protesters had demanded that U.S. President Donald Trump address the issue directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka over the weekend, but the American leader made no mention of the issue in a news conference after the meeting.
"As the people's demands continue to be ignored, protesters will put the pressure on the government," Ray Chan Chi-chuen, an opposition legislator, told the Nikkei Asian Review. "Some of them, especially the youth, will seek to escalate, and it's entirely understandable."
Before the breach, protesters shouting "Free Hong Kong!" and "Democracy Now!" poured onto the streets of key business and commercial districts, calling for Lam to step down. While the size of the crowd had yet to be determined, two recent marches through a similar route drew up to an estimated 2 million people, according to organizers.
Hong Kong has been gripped by massive demonstrations and rallies for nearly a month. The protesters have lashed out against the now-suspended extradition bill that would allow criminal suspects to be transferred to mainland China, which lacks an independent judicial system.
Opponents of the legislation say that the proposed law could be used by mainland authorities to extradite anyone in Hong Kong -- or someone passing through the city -- to China, including Beijing's political adversaries.
A demonstration at the government's headquarters on June 12 devolved into violent clashes, with police using rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowds. About 80 people were injured and more than 30 people were arrested, although some of those held in police custody have since been released.
Many of the protesters are students, who believe that stopping the extradition bill is their final opportunity to prevent the Chinese government from encroaching on their freedoms as guaranteed by the "one country, two systems" legal framework agreed to by China and Britain.
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