Violence flares as HK protests start 9th week

Policeman hospitalized with leg burns; large groups of residents thank officers

Separate protests were held in various parts of Hong Kong on Sunday as the demonstrations entered their ninth week, while large groups of Hong Kong residents visited several police stations over the weekend to express their firm support and respect for the police force.

On Sunday, a radical protestor hit a police officer with a gasoline bomb, and Commissioner of Police Lo Wai-chung later visited the officer, who had been hospitalized for burn wounds on his legs.

A resident surnamed Chan, who visited Kwai Chung Police Station with his wife and son on Saturday, said: "The police have been working really hard to safeguard social order. We came here to show our support." The boy gave the police a handwritten card.

Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, visited on Friday the Wong Tai Sin Police Station and dormitory, which had been attacked by radical protesters. Lam thanked the police officers for their hard work to safeguard the Hong Kong public.

The HKSAR government and police condemned the illegal assemblies and said police will strictly enforce the law against all violent and illegal acts.

Protesters who break the law should be brought to justice, the government stressed.