Hong Kong police fires tear gas, rubber bullets at extradition bill protesters

Hong Kong police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at demonstrators who threw plastic bottles on Wednesday as protests against an extradition bill that would allow people to be sent to mainland China for trial turned to violent chaos.

Tens of thousands of protesters had gathered peacefully outside the Chinese-ruled city's legislature before tempers flared, some charging police with umbrellas.

Large crowds overflowed roads and pathways leading to the Legislative Council, the local assembly, while police in riot gear were deployed. Police early on raised a red warning flag that reads: “Stop Charging or We Use Force.”

Ambulances were heading towards the protest area as panic spread through the crowd, many people trying to flee the stinging tear gas. Some shops were putting up their shutters at the nearby IFC, one of Hong Kong's tallest buildings.

Protesters "must stop the violence", police chief Stephen Lo said, warning residents to stay away from a "riot situation". He confirmed police were using plastic bullets.

The protesters, most of them young people dressed in black, had erected barricades as they prepared to hunker down for an extended occupation of the area, in scenes reminiscent of pro-democracy "Occupy" protests that gridlocked the former British colony in 2014.

Protesters rallied in and around Lung Wo Road, a main east-west artery near the offices of embattled Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, as hundreds of armed riot police first warned them to halt.

Opposition to the bill on Sunday triggered Hong Kong's biggest political demonstration since its handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" deal guaranteeing it special autonomy, including freedom of assembly, free press and independent judiciary.