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Hong Kong Protesters Clash with Police During Christmas Eve Confrontations

Verna Yu

   HONG KONG - Hopes for a peaceful Christmas were dashed in Hong Kong
   Tuesday after riot police fired tear gas and protesters set fire at
   various locations across the city that has been roiled by civil unrest
   for more than six months.

   Large crowds had gathered in several shopping malls and a busy tourist
   area in response to online calls to voice their discontent with the
   government and to demand greater democracy.

   The anti-government movement in Hong Kong, sparked by a controversial
   extradition law, has entered the seventh month and shows no signs of
   abating. Protesters say they will not give up unless the government
   meets their political demands, which include universal suffrage and an
   independent investigation into police brutality.

   After 9 p.m. local time, police fired several rounds of tear gas in a
   popular tourist area, Tsim Sha Tsui, to disperse protesters --
   including outside the luxury Peninsula Hotel. Hundreds had gathered to
   disrupt traffic earlier and riot police warned they were taking part in
   an illegal assembly.

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