Drone captures stunning footage of Hong Kong protests

BY CHRIS ANDERSON

Hong Kong residents have come out in huge numbers in defiance of Beijing’s rejection of true “one person, one vote” Universal Suffrage. The peaceful protest has been met by Hong Kong police using tear gas and pepper spray to “lawfully” disperse the crowds. There have been numerous injuries and arrests.

Hong Kong news source Apple Daily is livestreaming the protest and as a part of the coverage they have employed drones to take in sweeping aerial shots of the protests from above. We screencapped the following footage from the livestream, which includes one moment of police firing tear gas at protesters and advancing:

Here’s the moment in GIF form:

The Occupy Central civil disobedience movement kicked off days early to capitalize on momentum begun by Hong Kong students over the weekend during sit-ins and an attempted retaking of a formerly public civic square that was blocked off by the Hong Kong government back in July.

The protesters have marched in the thousands in Admiralty, Central, and more recently SoGo in Causeway Bay on the Main Island, and crowds have started paralyzing Nathan Road in Kowloon as well. Hong Kong citizens are delivering water and snacks to the protesters on Nathan Road, and anticipate they’ll be dealing with tear gas and police in the near future.

The following photos are courtesy Justin Law, who is currently in Admiralty covering the protests:

Watch a livestream of the protests via Apple Daily:

Follow events on Occupy Central’s twitter feed here.

Photo via Ed Schipul/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)