Masked men attack anti-government protesters in Hong Kong

(Image credit: ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/Getty Images)

Masked men attacked anti-government protesters in Hong Kong at a train station late Sunday, hitting them with sticks, The New York Times reports. Elsewhere in the city, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters after some people vandalized the Chinese government's liaison office in the city, marking an overt challenge to China's authority over the financial hub.

The clashes came after a peaceful march earlier in the day calling for an independent investigation into alleged police brutality in earlier protests. Organizers said 430,000 people participated in the sanctioned part of Sunday's demonstration; police put the figure at 138,000. A series of mass protests started last month against a proposal to allow criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China, where the governing Communist Party controls the courts. The bill has been suspended but protesters want it fully withdrawn.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.