Andrew Leung, president of the Legislative Council, looks at damaged glass panels, a day after protesters broke into the council building, in Hong Kong, China July 2, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

BEIJING (Reuters) - China regarded the violent actions of some protesters in Hong Kong as an “undisguised challenge” to the one country, two systems formula under which the city is ruled, state television reported on Tuesday.

A representative of China’s Hong Kong affairs office condemned the violence of some protesters who are angered by a proposed extradition bill and said Beijing supports the Hong Kong government to hold violent criminals responsible, the report said.

Hong Kong police fired tear gas early on Tuesday to disperse hundreds of defiant protesters, some of whom had stormed and ransacked the city’s legislature hours earlier on the anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese rule in 1997.