HONG KONG — Police in riot gear retook Hong Kong's legislative building Monday after demonstrators smashed their way in, storming the main chamber, spraying graffiti on the walls and hoisting the flag that the city used before it was governed by China.
The protesters defaced Hong Kong's emblem, tore down portraits of legislative leaders and wrote messages on the chamber's high wooden wall calling for the resignation of Carrie Lam as Hong Kong's chief executive and leader.
The protesters draped a colonial Hong Kong flag — with Great Britain's Union Jack in the upper-left-hand corner — on the podium where Legislative Council President Andrew Leung would normally sit.
The protesters, many wearing hardhats or carrying umbrellas, spray painted slogans on chamber walls such as: "Carrie Lam step down," "No extradition to China" and "Release the righteous" protesters who have been arrested.
Then shortly after 12 a.m. Tuesday (noon ET, Monday) police in riot gear began firing tear gas at protesters outside.
By this point most of the protesters had left the legislative chambers, with people chanting inside “leave together.” Only four were remaining inside as the clock hit midnight.
Police had regained control of the Legislative Council chambers and the surrounding neighborhood within an hour of the tear gas.
Lam called a press conference shortly after 4 a.m. Tuesday in Hong Kong (4 p.m. Monday ET) to decry the violence. She said the storming of the chamber was an "extreme use of violence and vandalism" that "really saddens and shocks a lot of people."
"This is something we should seriously condemn because nothing is more important than the rule of law in Hong Kong," she said.
Earlier, police had tried to hold back the protesters by using riot shields and pepper spray, and the secretariat of the Legislative Council issued a "red alert" for all staff inside to immediately evacuate the building.
Protesters got into the chamber after they fashioned a make-shift battering ram out of wheeled, metal cart which are ubiquitous around the bustling city.
Police said protesters "violently attacked and forced" their way in "illegally."
"The police severely condemned the violent attack," according to a police statement. "The police will conduct sweeping in a short period of time and will take reasonable force."
The activists are calling for the total withdrawal of a proposed law that would allow suspected criminals to be extradited from Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland.
Outside, some 550,000 people were flooding the city's streets for the annual July 1 march, marking the day in 1997 when this former British colony was handed back to China.
The march is usually a general demand for democracy and human rights. But this year's procession carries much sharper resonance, coming after around a month of mass protests against the proposed extradition law.
The city was supposed to retain its own political and economic system after leaving U.K. rule. Critics say the law is part of attempts by Beijing to erode those freedoms, edging Hong Kong toward China's political and legal system, which rights groups say is rife with abuses and is used to silence political opponents and dissent.
U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said Washington expects China to keep its promise to maintain "one country, two systems" in Hong Kong through 2047.
