A night of protests and clashes in Hong Kong -- including tear gas volleys and roving groups of masked men attacking protesters -- prompted the strongest warnings yet from the Chinese government and fanned fears of escalating violence.
Police fired smoke canisters to clear Hong Kong’s streets late Sunday after demonstrators defied government requests to cut short another large and otherwise peaceful march through the Asian financial hub. Thousands of protesters had earlier surrounded China’s liaison office and defaced the national emblem, an act that Beijing’s representative said in a statement “seriously challenged” the central government’s authority.