Tensions rose in Hong Kong late on Tuesday as hundreds of protesters began a nighttime vigil outside the city’s parliament, just hours before lawmakers debate a divisive plan to allow extraditions to China.
The sudden appearance of around 2,000 predominantly young protesters after 11pm, some carrying tents and supplies, was met by a marked increase in police reinforcements, many of them equipped with riot gear.
The financial hub was rocked over the weekend by the largest protest march since the city’s 1997 return to China, as vast crowds called on authorities to scrap the Beijing-backed plan.
Many are fearful the proposed law will tangle people in the mainland’s opaque courts and hammer Hong Kong’s reputation as an international business hub.
