Hong Kong rocked by violent clashes as protester shot by police officer
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The shooting of a protester in Hong Kong has marked an escalation in the violence that has rocked the city for weeks, as pro-democracy activists clashed once again with police, this time in broad daylight.
In one incident, footage from social media shows a police officer drawing his gun, and firing at a masked protester who was advancing towards him. He is in a critical condition in hospital.
More than 60 people were wounded in the violence on Monday, which the territory's chief executive Carrie Lam addressed in a televised appearance.
“The violence has far exceeded the call for democracy and the demonstrators are now the people’s enemy,” she declared.
“If there’s still any wishful thinking that by escalating violence, the Hong Kong ... government will yield to pressure, to satisfy the so-called political demands, I’m making this statement clear and loud here: that will not happen.”
Protesters threw petrol bombs at police after a weekend of clashes across the Chinese-ruled territory, marking a dramatic escalation in more than five months of often violent pro-democracy unrest.