Thread by @ezracheungtoto

#LIVE: A normal pre-Christmas shopping in Hong Kong has become not so normal as police have suddenly stormed into New Town Plaza, a shopping mall turned protest hotspot after July. At least 2 people have been captured. Tensions have also rapidly been escalated. #HongKongProtests

#LIVE: It is reported that a middle-aged woman has been sprayed with black paint in her face after a scuffle at the mall. Since then, protesters have been parading at the mall chanting #antiLEAB slogans and vandalising facilities and shops inside the mall. #HongKongProtests

#LIVE: The police’s sudden entry has led to a large-scale escape of customers there using the metro and the nearby bus terminus as pepper spray and smoke cakes have been added to the tense situation. #HongKongProtests

#LIVE: This elder woman looks frightened after the confrontation broken out. “Bloody dark cops,” what appears to be his husband chants while holding her hands. With babies still in prams and unprepared shoppers, lots of them have been made left out of scare. #HongKongProtests

#LIVE: Having passed the main atrium of the New Town Plaza, police have almost cordoned off the entire mall. Such a siege of this mall is second to the scuffle that took place on July 21. Riot police have also threatened shoppers by pointing guns at them. #HongKongProtesters

#LIVE: Shoppers and #antiELAB protesters yell at riot police with boos and hisses as they are leaving the New Town Plaza. However, the tenseness at the mall has not dissipated even though the police have left. #HongKongProtests

#LIVE: Local paper #AM730 has also reported that in a moment of desperation, an #antiELAB protester has leaped from a balcony in order to find out the situation of another protester who has been subdued by undercover police officers. #HongKongProtests