HONG KONG (AP) - A homemade, remote-controlled bomb intended to "kill or to harm" riot control officers was detonated as they deployed against renewed violence in Hong Kong over the weekend, police said Monday, in a further escalation of destructive street battles gripping the business hub.
The "loud thud" Sunday night close to riot officers who had been clearing away a protester-built road block marked the first known use of an explosive device during protests that started in June over a contested extradition bill and have snowballed into an anti-government, anti-police and anti-China movement.
"It exploded less than 2 meters (yards) away from a police vehicle. We have reason to believe that the bomb was meant to target police officers," Deputy Commissioner Tang Ping-keung said at a news conference, speaking through a translator.
But despite spiraling violence, widespread vandalism and gasoline-bomb attacks by black-clad hardcore protesters, and repeated government appeals for people not to take their side, the protest movement is still rousing determined support from more moderate demonstrators, broadly worried about the future of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory and its freedoms, unique in China.
A peaceful rally in central Hong Kong's swanky business district Monday night drew a giant crowd tens of thousands strong, a chanting, singing throng so massive demonstrators filled side streets and broad boulevards. Holding aloft lit cellphones, the crowd looked like a galaxy of stars. Organizers said they drew 130,000 participants.
Many waved U.S. flags. The rally appealed for the U.S. Congress to press on with legislation that would require the secretary of state to annually review Hong Kong's special economic and trade status, providing a check on Beijing's influence over the territory.
A banner where speakers whipped up the crowd appealed for President Donald Trump to "liberate Hong Kong." Another read, "Make Hong Kong great again."
The majority of demonstrators wore face masks, a practice first adopted by many to protect their identities amid profound distrust of the police and government but now also a symbol of dissent since Hong Kong's leader, Carrie Lam, made the wearing of masks at rallies punishable by a year in jail.
Widespread defiance of the mask ban and the solid turnout for Monday's rally suggested that Lam's government is barely making headway with its efforts to get demonstrators to turn their back on the movement's more radical and destructive hardcore. Tang, the deputy commissioner, sought again to swing opinion at his news conference, saying violence against police has reached "a life-threatening level."
"If members of the public continue to remain silent and condone and tolerate such behavior they will go from bad to worse," he said. "Please cut ties with these criminals and rioters."
No casualties were reported from the detonation Sunday night on a usually busy thoroughfare in Kowloon that was among dozens of protest hotspots.