Hong Kong protests: Hundreds of activists storm government HQ, smashing pictures and spraying graffiti

Hundreds of Hong Kong protesters have stormed the headquarters of the city’s legislative council, spray-painting graffiti and smashing pictures.

The development followed an hours-long standoff that saw the building’s reinforced glass windows smashed with metal trolleys and poles, in a culmination of growing anger over an extradition bill.

The council, a mini-parliament, issued a red alert, ordering the protesters to leave immediately.

It did not say what would happen if they did not, though police did not immediately intervene.

An annual protest march was already scheduled for Monday, as the territory marks the 1 July 1997 anniversary of the handover to China from British rule.

In a statement, police said 13 officers “experienced difficulty in breathing and had swollen and itchy skin” after having an unspecified liquid thrown on them during an earlier clash where they reportedly baton-charged protesters.

The violence forced an alteration to the 1 July march, an annual tradition that shows defiance towards what critics say is the encroachment of Hong Kong’s autonomy by mainland China.

But clashes started particularly early on Monday and became unusually heated amid a backdrop of anger against city leader Carrie Lam’s attempts to force through an unpopular extradition bill. More than a million people have taken to the streets at times over the past three weeks to vent their anger.

Police fought to keep back hundreds of helmeted protesters who tried to advance down closed streets towards the official harbour-front venue marking the anniversary.

Attendants were asked to be seated inside a huge convention centre rather than gather outside as they have in previous years, with the government blaming light rain for the change.

During the event, Chinese and Hong Kong flags were raised together and two helicopters and a small flotilla passed by.

In a five-minute speech, Hong Kong chief executive Ms Lam said the protests of recent weeks had taught her she needs to listen better to the youth, and to people in general.

“This has made me fully realise that I, as a politician, have to remind myself all the time of the need to grasp public sentiments accurately,” she said.

Ms Lam insisted her government had good intentions, but said: “I will learn the lesson and ensure that the government’s future work will be closer and more responsive to the aspirations, sentiments and opinions of the community.”

Security guards pushed the pro-democracy lawmaker Helena Wong out of the room as she walked backwards shouting at Ms Lam to resign and withdraw the “evil” extradition legislation. She later told reporters she was voicing the grievances and opinions of the protesters, who could not get into the event.

Perhaps the most dramatic scenes were at the legislative council building, however, where police in full riot gear stood lined up inside the plate glass windows as protesters tried to gain entry, repeatedly ramming and cracking the windows with anything they could find. The standoff lasted well into the sweltering evening, and the Reuters news agency reported the protesters had breached and stormed the building late on Monday.

Fearing a repeat of the heavy-handed police tactics from the bloody 12 June protest, pro-democracy politicians urged the public to demonstrate peacefully.

Opposition politicians including Lam Cheuk-ting, Hui Chi-fung, Roy Kwong Chun-yu and HK First’s Claudia Mo were at the scene at the council headquarters, attempting to discourage the crowd from violence, CNN reported.

Police, who had been working to secure the harbour front since 4am, requested protest leaders cancel or postpone the handover anniversary march, with attendance swelled by the recent unrest. That request was denied.