The shooting of an 18-year-old student set off a wave of recriminations in Hong Kong on Wednesday, as protesters vented fresh outrage against the police while others searched for ways to keep the violence from pushing the city into even more dangerous territory.

The reactions reflected disagreement over who bore greater responsibility for Tuesday’s incident, in which a well-armed officer fired his pistol at point-blank range while the student and others swung at him with metal bars. The group of protesters had tackled another officer seconds before the shooting and hurled a Molotov cocktail at the policemen seconds afterward, videos of the incident showed.

The student, Tsang Chi-kin, made it through surgery and was in stable condition Wednesday. Reports also emerged Wednesday that an Indonesian journalist who was shot in the eye by a policeman with a less-lethal projectile Sunday would be left permanently blinded in the eye.

Protests sprung up late Wednesday across the city, as protesters wearing their trademark black marched and sometimes built barricades with people dressed in ordinary street clothes and surgical masks. Police said the demonstrators blocked roads and threw Molotov cocktails in actions that targeted neighborhoods including Causeway Bay and Tsuen Wan, the outlying suburb where the student was shot.

Much of the opposition camp focused on condemning a police force that is already reviled by many in the city, a development that could make a peaceful solution harder to find. Hundreds of protesters clogged the business district of Central and blocked major streets in a lunchtime flash march against police violence.

Related Video A protester was shot with a live round by Hong Kong police Tuesday during widespread demonstrations against China’s National Day Celebration. Photo: Campus TV/HKUSU/Getty Images

Online, dozens of images of guns, bullets and bloodshed—as well as of hearts and lungs—circulated on the encrypted messaging app Telegram beginning shortly after Mr. Tsang was shot in the chest Tuesday.


“China 70th birthday. Deathday in HK,” read one digital poster.

Punctuating those concerns, police said Wednesday that they fired around 1,400 rounds of tear gas, 900 rubber bullets, 190 beanbags, 230 sponge rounds and six live bullets in fighting the day before. More than 120 people were injured and 269 arrested—the highest daily totals so far in nearly four months of conflict. The police said it was a measured response to protester violence that included multiple fires, Molotov cocktails and attacks on police, including the one that led to the shooting.

Bill Wong, an 18-year-old student himself, was one of dozens of protesters who gathered at a metro station after the spontaneous march and chanted against police brutality.

“I feel very sad,” Mr. Wong said. “The police used a bullet against a student and nearly killed him. He’s a student and a protester, not a terrorist. He didn’t have a gun. Why can the police do this?”


A video by a local university publication showing the moment Mr. Tsang was shot was viewed more than 2.2 million times in the first 22 hours after it was posted on Facebook.

The reaction evoked memories of the outcry in August after a woman was struck by a projectile and suffered an eye injury. Then, protesters responded by shutting down the city’s airport for two straight days.

British flags are waved as people gathered Wednesday to support Tsang Chi-kin who was who was shot in the chest by a policeman on Tuesday. Photo: nicolas asfouri/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The Civil Human Rights Front, which has organized some of the biggest rallies since early June, announced a plan for another mass rally soon—to protest against what it said was an escalation of police force and in solidarity with the protester—but the group didn’t specify when.

Not everyone sympathized with the 18-year-old. Some internet users, responding to video footage showing Mr. Tsang and other protesters attacking police officers, said the shooting could be seen as self-defense.


“Why would you attack the police,” one posted in a Facebook comment.

Discussion about the appropriate and most effective level of violence has become one of the main topics on protester online forum LIHKG. While posts promoting an escalation of violence still get a sizable following, some posts calling for less confrontational strategies are gaining traction.

The protesters have made the targeted use of violence a key part of their repertoire since the early days, and it remains a key tool.

“I don’t think it’s time yet that we should pause and think whether what we do is just,” said a 19-year-old frontline protester who called himself Justin. “The answer is obvious. The red line for me is humanity. That we won’t harm bystanders, the innocent people. The reason the movement could sustain for over three months is because the demonstrators are disciplined.”


Many ordinary residents as well as protesters are increasingly angry at the use of force by the police.

Alvin, a 25-year-old IT worker, said he took a half-day off to participate in Wednesday’s flash march around lunchtime. Donning a black, long-sleeve hoodie, black pants, sunglasses and a blue mask, he marched from Central to Admiralty, where the government has its headquarters.

“The brutality of the police just keeps getting worse,” he said.

He said it looked like many bankers and lawyers were out marching on Wednesday. “It just shows that these aren’t just students. It’s a lot of professionals coming out at lunchtime.”

Veby Indah, an Indonesian journalist working in Hong Kong, was shot in her right eye Sunday when a policeman turned while descending a staircase and fired toward a group of reporters standing on an elevated walkway. Her lawyer said Wednesday the projectile left her permanently blinded in the eye. The police didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Michael, a 20-year-old university student, said he expects violence on both sides to intensify unless Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam can convince people that she will address the protesters’ main demands, which include a judge-led investigation of police violence.

“If not, this is only going to get worse,” he said.

—Wenxin Fan contributed to this article.

Write to Joyu Wang at joyu.wang@wsj.com and Steven Russolillo at steven.russolillo@wsj.com