Clashes at latest Hong Kong anti-extradition march

Police and prot es ter s clashed again in Hong Kong yesterday as unrest caused by a widely-loathed plan to allow extraditions to mainland China showed no sign of abating. Police used pepper spray and batons against small groups of protesters who took over a road on the sidelines of another huge rally in Sha Tin, a districtthatlies between the main urban sprawl around the harbour and the Chinese border.

Masked protesters responded by building barricades from metal fencing and a stand-off with riot police ensued. Hong Kong has been rocked by more than a month of huge largely peaceful protests -- as well as a series of separate violent confrontationswith police -- sparked by a law that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China and other countries.

Last month, parliament was trashed by hundreds of masked, youth-led protesters in unprecedented scenes. The bill has since been postponed, but that has done little to quell public anger which has evolved into a wider movement calling for democratic reforms, universal suffrage and a halt to sliding freedoms in the semi-autonomous hub.