Thread by @laurelchor

Police have raised a yellow flag warning the crowd that they are breaching the law in Causeway Bay. Police have essentially kettled this section of Lockhart Rd, with the only way out one MTR exit. People are not streaming out. #hongkongprotests

Police have so thoroughly blocked roads in Causeway Bay that @JessiePang0125 and I are forced to take the MTR one stop to get out. Despite there not being cars — because the police have blocked the roads — officers were still making ppl stay on the sidewalk.

Just got threatened with pepper spray for taking photos of an elderly man yelling at the police. They threatened him but others managed to pull him away.

Water cannon and armored truck on tonnochy turning onto Hennessy

Massive line of riot police on Hennessy Road

Water cannon deployed several times on Hennessy Rd. Along with the armored car it’s just making laps of this section of the road to keep spraying the people who gets chased away then return. Riot police advancing now.

Thousands of people now marching along Wan Chai Road.

The crowd is eerily quiet. Just thousands marching in defiance, quietly.

Pepper balls fired at retreating marchers on Tin Lok Lane, under the Bowrington Rd Market overpasses.

Insane number of police vans parked along Hennessy

Vans gone. The crowd is chanting in front of line of riot police, even chanting a pro-independence slogan once — a crime under the national security law — before switching to chants taunting the police.

Pepper balls deployed on Heard St. An arrest may have been made. Pepper bullets appear to have shattered the lights on a Mercedes as well as hit its hood. Bystander: “If it were a person they’d have been screwed!”

Crowds have taken over Hennessy. The atmosphere is calm and defiant, though I’m keeping my gas mask on as police keep appearing out of nowhere

Second journalist I’ve seen get badly pepper sprayed in less than an hour. Police ran out of speeding police vans and started threatening and shoving journalists with their shields. One officer hit a clearly marked woman journalist on her helmet with his baton.

My back is on fire as I got sprayed as I was walkijg away (as instructed by the police).

Earlier an older white man was removing barricades that protesters were using the block the road (probably the strongest act of defiance I’ve seen today) and got into an altercation with a teenager. Police pulled up right then so people scattered.

By pulled up, I mean an armored police vehicle rammed into the barricades at full speed.

A man gave the water cannon truck the finger and the officer inside opened the door, presumably to threaten him. The man ran away. Imagine being in one of the most dangerous vehicles on wheels in Hong Kong and still having something to prove when someone hurts your feelings. 🤦🏻‍♀️

This is what defiance sounds like. 19 hours after it became illegal to call for independence, Hong Kong protesters have taken to the streets to do just that. #hongkongprotests

After the police deployed the water cannon in Wan Chai repeatedly, I headed to Causeway Bay. The police just cleared the area in front of Times Square, making a handful of arrests.

Police are just standing around in Causeway Bay now. Just watched the water cannon and armored drive away. The protests seem to be over (for now).

Dozens of police vans remain in Causeway Bay, which is now quiet.

Casually holding a rifle in Causeway Bay as people walk past.

*shotgun

Got home and had to stop my dog from licking me lest he accidentally ingest pepper spray :/