Violence flares in Hong Kong as emergency rule spurs backlash

Riot police walk across Hennessy Road during a protest in the Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong, China, on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2019. Violence escalated in Hong Kong as protesters set fires and vandalized train stations and banks, pushing back against government efforts to quell demonstrations when it invoked a colonial-era emergency law. Photographer: Justin Chin/Bloomberg

HONG KONG (Bloomberg): Hong Kong suffered one of its most violent weekends since anti-China protests began in June, with demonstrators paralysing large swaths of the financial hub after leader Carrie Lam imposed emergency rule for the first time in more than half a century to ban face masks.

On a holiday weekend normally packed with tourists, the city's already reeling economy took another hit as banks, supermarkets and rail all cut service. MTR Corp., the rail operator, halted all travel except direct lines to the airport on Saturday for the first time since 2007. Train services remained limited on Monday, a holiday, with most stations closed due to vandalism. For the second time in a week, a teenage demonstrator was shot and wounded in scuffles with police.