This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A peaceful rally at a metro station in Hong Kong descended into a clash between protesters and police as the city entered the 11th week of anti-government demonstrations.

Hundreds of people took part in a sit-in at the out-of-town Yuen Long metro station earlier on Wednesday in protest at a violent and indiscriminate attack on commuters and protesters there a month ago.

Dozens of men clad in white T-shirts rushed into the station late at night on 21 July and beat people both inside the station and on trains with canes and wooden sticks. Police were widely criticised for being absent during the attack.

The rally on Wednesday night passed without incident for about three hours until shortly before 10pm local time (1500 BST), when dozens of protesters confronted riot police standing guard outside the station and nearby villages.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Some protesters shone laser pointers at police. Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP

Protesters shone laser pointers at about 100 riot police armed with shields and guns, before the officers started charging towards them. Demonstrators placed bins and plastic traffic barriers on the road as barricades but the police swiftly removed them. As the police charged, protesters shouted: “Triads! Triads!”

Quick guide What are the Hong Kong protests about? Show Hide Why are people protesting? The protests were triggered by a controversial bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, where the Communist party controls the courts, but have since evolved into a broader pro-democracy movement. Public anger – fuelled by the aggressive tactics used by the police against demonstrators – has collided with years of frustration over worsening inequality and the cost of living in one of the world's most expensive, densely populated cities. The protest movement was given fresh impetus on 21 July when gangs of men attacked protesters and commuters at a mass transit station – while authorities seemingly did little to intervene. Underlying the movement is a push for full democracy in the city, whose leader is chosen by a committee dominated by a pro-Beijing establishment rather than by direct elections.

Protesters have vowed to keep their movement going until their core demands are met, such as the resignation of the city’s leader, Carrie Lam, an independent inquiry into police tactics, an amnesty for those arrested and a permanent withdrawal of the bill. Lam announced on 4 September that she was withdrawing the bill. Why were people so angry about the extradition bill? Beijing’s influence over Hong Kong has grown in recent years, as activists have been jailed and pro-democracy lawmakers disqualified from running or holding office. Independent booksellers have disappeared from the city, before reappearing in mainland China facing charges. Under the terms of the agreement by which the former British colony was returned to Chinese control in 1997, the semi-autonomous region was meant to maintain a “high degree of autonomy” through an independent judiciary, a free press and an open market economy, a framework known as “one country, two systems”. The extradition bill was seen as an attempt to undermine this and to give Beijing the ability to try pro-democracy activists under the judicial system of the mainland. How have the authorities responded? Beijing has issued increasingly shrill condemnations but has left it to the city's semi-autonomous government to deal with the situation. Meanwhile police have violently clashed directly with protesters, repeatedly firing teargas and rubber bullets. Beijing has ramped up its accusations that foreign countries are “fanning the fire” of unrest in the city. China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi has ordered the US to “immediately stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs in any form”. Lily Kuo and Verna Yu in Hong Kong

Demonstrators then retreated to the metro station, pursued by large numbers of riot police. The police stopped outside the station as protesters used a fire hose to spray water and left oil and detergent on the floor in an apparent attempt to prevent the police from entering.

Makeshift barricades were then set up by protesters inside the station using bins, magazine stands and other objects, while walls, ceilings and ticket machines were hit rhythmically with umbrellas and other items.

At one point the atmosphere turned tense as police raised a blue flag to warn protesters that they were engaged in an illegal meeting and the officers could use force.

The standoff continued for nearly an hour, with protesters throwing objects at the police including bottles, umbrellas and even yellow rubber ducks.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Fire extinguishers were used to create smoke during the standoff.

Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters

The black-clad demonstrators squirted fire extinguishers to create smoke as they retreated. Many shouted slogans frequently used in the recent anti-extradition protests, including “reclaim Hong Kong, revolution of our time!”. The police backed off shortly after 11pm and protesters began to leave.

Police did not use teargas, rubber bullets and beanbag rounds to disperse the crowds, which marks a departure from the usual pattern of tactics over the past two months.

Resentment against police violence has grown in recent weeks after an increasing use of force to disperse protesters, with innocent bystanders and local residents also affected.

Earlier on Wednesday evening, during a five-minute silence to mark the 21 July attack, some protesters covered one eye in a gesture of solidarity with a young woman whose eye was badly injured in one of the August protests.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Riot police erect barriers outside the metro station. Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP

And at a press conference protesters wearing black T-shirts, hard hats and dark glasses, with scarves covering their faces, condemned police tactics. They also accused the government of condoning violent attacks by rural clans and gangsters. They noted that although dozens of attackers in Yuen Long had been arrested, none had been prosecuted so far.

The wave of protests in Hong Kong, which started in early June to oppose a controversial extradition bill under which individuals could be sent to China for trial, has grown into a broader movement with five demands: the complete withdrawal of the now-suspended extradition bill; the setting up of an independent body to investigate police violence; a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots”; an amnesty for those arrested; and a resumption of political reform to allow the free election of Hong Kong’s leader and legislature and the resignation of Carrie Lam, the current leader.