Hong Kong braces for more protests

Bloomberg

Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed national unity and said relations between Hong Kong and the mainland would improve, even as pro-democracy protesters planned several rallies to coincide with anniversary of Communist rule.
“Hong Kong and Macau will be able to develop together with the motherland’s interior,” Xi said in a brief speech to a banquet in Beijing ahead of Tuesday’s holiday marking 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. “Tomorrow will be even better.”
Xi said the “one country, two systems” principle under which Hong Kong has been governed since its return from British rule in 1997 must be upheld. The president’s remarks — his most extensive comments on Hong Kong since unrest began in June — came as the city braced for another wave of protests during the National Day holiday.
Demonstrators set a subway station entrance ablaze and threw petrol bombs at police as tens of thousands tried to march on Hong Kong’s central government offices ahead of the National Day holiday. They were met by officers who deployed rounds of tear gas and a water cannon to disperse them for a second straight day.
The unrest disrupted some services in Hong Kong’s city centre, with rail operator MTR Corp temporarily closing some downtown stations. Hong Kong police said they arrested 146 people and fired off 328 rounds of tear gas. Forty-eight people were sent to the hospital, authorities said. The violence has threatened to mar Xi’s October 1 celebrations in Beijing, which will be marked by “mass pageantry” in which at least 100,000 people will take part.