Wagyu Restaurant on Wellington St. Engulfed in Tear Gas
For the few tourists who dare to visit Hong Kong these days, Saturday evening the protests became more than shooting a short video from behind the safety of a hotel lobby window and sharing it on social media.
Police unleashed a barrage of teargas throughout Central leaving dozens of tourists and shoppers choking on fumes.
The tear gas chased the well-prepared frontliners off of Des Voeux and Queens Roads however large numbers of people, including elderly women and women with young children, were taken completely by surprise and were left staggering about coughing with tears flooding down their faces.
First aid responders were desperately herding people into safer areas and sloshing water onto their burning eyes and skin.
The protesters left Central and marched through the heart of Soho where they were again confronted by police near Wagyu Restaurant at the far end of Wyndham St.
The police unleashed multiple rounds of tear gas which drifted into Wagyu restaurant wreaking havoc on patrons who had gathered to watch the rugby world cup final.
A number of foreigners emerged from the restaurant to scream profanities at the riot police as they marched past in pursuit of a small group of protesters.
AsiaXPAT spoke to a number of tourists and expats who expressed anger at the complete disregard for the large number of people in the area who were not involved in the protests.
One man said, "protesters were walking through Soho not causing any damage or disruption and suddenly a police van raced along Wyndham street, officers jumped out and immediately started to fire tear gas into the middle of the street."
Hong Kong's tourism numbers, already
down 40%, will no doubt fall even further as images of foreigners being tear gassed in Hong Kong's premier restaurant district go viral.
https://youtu.be/wbC4UzDMjag?si=UO-reJYpsDYTnnfi