This archive report was first published on 11 November 2019.
November 11, 2019
Months of antigovernment protests in Hong Kong have thrown the Chinese territory into its worst political crisis in decades, with no end in sight.
On Monday, the city witnessed a violent expression of its deep-seated resentment, as a young protester found himself staring at the end of an angry police officer's handgun. He was shot.
Across town, a middle-aged man argued with rowdy protesters, accusing them of lacking patriotism for the Chinese motherland. He was set on fire.
Carrie Lam, the city's embattled chief executive, denounced the unrest, saying the escalating violence would not force the government to give in to the protesters' demands.
She called those who had set the man on fire 'enemies of the people.'
Protesters, furious with a police force they see as acting with impunity, called for the city to join in a strike on Monday, disrupting transit en masse and messing up the morning commute.
Events across the city, including classes at most of its universities, were canceled.
Monday's unrest was ugly from the outset, with a police officer drawing a handgun on a protester as commuters looked on in disbelief.
Several shots rang out, and the 21-year-old man crumpled to the ground in the middle of an eerily deserted intersection.
As blood pooled on the asphalt, a crowd of angry pedestrians surrounded riot police officers who had arrived as reinforcements.
'Murderer!' some of them cried, while an officer doused the crowd with pepper spray.
