Hong Kong authorities start arrests after violent clashes

Hong Kong authorities mopped up on Wednesday after the most violent clashes in nearly four months of anti-government unrest, including the shooting of a teenage demonstrator by police and the arrest of more than 180 people.

More than 100 people were injured during Tuesday's turmoil, Hong Kong's Hospital Authority said, as angry demonstrators took to the streets across the territory and police fired tear gas and water cannon to try to disperse them.

Among the injured was an 18-year-old school student who was shot in the chest with a live round. He is in stable condition in a hospital.

Police said that the officer involved was under serious threat and acted in accordance with official guidelines. The wounded man was conscious when taken to the hospital, the police added.

Tuesday's protests, on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, were aimed at propelling the activists' fight for greater democracy onto the international stage and embarrassing the city's political leaders in Beijing.

The former British colony has been rocked by months of protests over a now-withdrawn extradition bill that would have allowed people to be sent to mainland China for trial but have evolved into calls for greater democracy, among other demands.

The outpouring of opposition to the former British colony's Beijing-backed government has plunged the city into its biggest political crisis in decades and poses the gravest popular challenge to President Xi Jinping since he came to power.

The protests on Tuesday quickly degenerated into chaos as police fired tear gas and water cannon at petrol bomb-throwing protesters in areas spreading from the shopping district of Causeway Bay to the Admiralty area of government offices, over the harbour to Kowloon and beyond to the New Territories.

Ninety-six people appeared in court on Tuesday, charged with rioting during violent clashes on Sunday.

More protests are planned, including class boycotts at some secondary schools on Wednesday in response to the point-blank shooting of the 18-year-old.