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A man has been shot in the chest during anti-government protests in Hong Kong.

He was shot by a live round fired by police on Hoi Pa Street, Tsuen Wan, according to the South China Post. A friend told the paper he was in a critical condition.

Pictures from the scene show medics giving a man first aid. It comes amid several reports of police firing live rounds in the city.

At least 66 people have been injured in clashes on Tuesday. Hospital authorities in Hong Kong said two were in a critical condition and two suffered serious injuries.

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Police Senior Superintendent Yolanda Yu told a press conference that “a large group of rioters attacked police officers on a large scale on Tai Ho Road in Tsuen Wan”.

“Police officers warned the attacker but he (continued) to violently attack the police,” Yu added. “Police officers at the scene, whose lives were seriously threatened, fired a live round in order to protect himself and his colleagues.”

It came as riot police fired tear gas in at least four districts - Wong Tai Sin, Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan and Tuen Mun - as protesters took to the streets.

Activists, using umbrellas as shields, threw gas canisters back. Petrol bombs, bricks and other objects were also thrown.

Police said some protesters used corrosive fluid in Tuen Mun, injuring officers and some reporters.

In Wong Tai Sin, a petrol bomb exploded near motorcycles parked along a pavement, creating a large blaze that was put out by firefighters.

Organisers said at least 100,000 people earlier marched along a broad city thoroughfare, chanting anti-China slogans and some carrying Chinese flags defaced with a black cross.

Protests began in early June over a now-shelved extradition bill that activists say was an example of how Hong Kong's freedoms and citizen rights are being eroded.

The movement has since snowballed into an anti-Chinese campaign with demands for direct elections for the city's leaders and police accountability.

Today's protests come on the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, which established the country's communist regime.

A huge military parade to honour the 70th birthday marched past Tiananmen Square, the site of a brutal massacre at the hands of the Chinese regime to quell democracy protests in 1989.

China has been quietly building up its forces in Hong Kong in recent weeks. Diplomats told Reuters there are up to 12,000 troops from the "People's Liberation Army" stationed there to put down any protests.

State news agency Xinhua described the operation as a routine “rotation” of the low-key force China has kept in Hong Kong since the city’s handover from Britain in 1997.

In the morning, as Hong Kong's government marked the 70th anniversary with a solemn ceremony, police used pepper spray to break up a brief scuffle between Beijing supporters and a small group of pro-democracy protesters.

The city's Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung told hundreds of guests at a reception that it has become "unrecognisable" due to violence by protesters.

Cheung was representing the city's leader, Carrie Lam, who led a delegation joining the National Day festivities in Beijing.

Cheung said Beijing fully supports the "one country, two systems" framework that gives Hong Kong freedoms and rights not enjoyed on the mainland. The system was implemented when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Police warned Monday that hard-line protesters may engage in extreme acts that are "one step closer to terrorism," such as killing police officers, posing as police officials to kill civilians and large-scale arson, including at gas stations. Activists ridiculed the assertion as a scare tactic.

Additional reporting by agencies