A battle for the soul of the city: why violence has spiraled in the Hong Kong protests

When Hong Kong’s summer of protests began in June, the city was so shocked by police unleashing 150 canisters of tear gas and using their batons, it helped bring two million people into the streets to demonstrate again and denounce police brutality.

Four months of rolling protests later, they used nearly 10 times as many tear gas rounds in 24 hours in a futile bid to control the city as China celebrated 70 years of communist rule last Tuesday. That day police shot a protester with live ammunition for the first time, seriously injuring the teenager. Three days later another schoolboy was shot in the thigh.

There have been other serious casualties, including a journalist blinded in one eye, and more than 1,100 people have been treated at hospitals for injuries from the protests.