The Latest: 200 protest police use of tear gas in Hong Kong

HONG KONG (AP) — The Latest on the protests in Hong Kong (all times local):

11:20 a.m.

About 200 people are marching against police use of tear gas as Hong Kong readies for a day of protests.

The group carried yellow balloons as they headed Sunday morning from Edinburgh Square to the nearby government headquarters.

Two other marches are scheduled for later in the day. The city has had two weeks of relative calm, though police skirmished with some protesters near a subway station on Saturday night.

One march will head to the American Consulate to thank the U.S. for approving legislation aimed at holding Hong Kong and Chinese officials accountable for any human rights abuses in the semi-autonomous territory.

Another has been called in the Tsim Sha Tsui district near Polytechnic University, the site of the last fierce clashes with police.

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9 a.m.

China has accused the U.N. high commissioner for human rights of emboldening “radical violence” in Hong Kong by suggesting the city’s leader conduct an investigation into reports of excessive use of force by police.

The U.N. commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, wrote in an opinion piece Saturday in the South China Morning Post that Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam’s government must prioritize “meaningful, inclusive” dialogue to resolve the crisis.

She urged Lam to hold an “independent and impartial judge-led investigation” into police conduct of protests. It has been one of key demands of pro-democracy demonstrations that have roiled the territory since June.

China’s U.N. mission in Geneva says Bachelet’s article exerts pressure on the government and will “only embolden the rioters to conduct more severe radical violence.”

source: yahoo.com