Hong Kong protesters clashed with police Sunday.Protesters threw Molotov cocktails and bricks at police near the Legislative Council building.Police responded by firing water cannons filled with blue jets of water, a practice usually initiated to identify protesters later.Thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators were on Hong Kong’s streets Sunday.The weekend demonstrations have continued for three months despite the Hong Kong government’s promise to withdraw extradition legislation that sparked the protests. Dissenters have since broadened their demands for the direct election of their leaders and police accountability.Protesters carrying umbrellas take part in march in Hong Kong, Sept. 15, 2019.The protesters saw the bill that would have allowed some Hong Kong criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China for trial as an example of the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy since the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.More than 1,300 people have been arrested since the demonstrations began in early June.The increasingly violent demonstrations have further damaged Hong Kong’s economy, which had already been weakened by the U.S.-China trade war.Earlier Sunday, demonstrators gathered outside the British consulate where they sang “God Save the Queen.”Under an agreement with the former colonial power Britain, China has promised Hong Kong can maintain its free market system and democratic freedoms until 2047. But hundreds of thousands of people have turned out for marches to protest what residents of Hong Kong see as steady encroachment on those freedoms by Beijing.
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