HK protesters attack govt offices, metro station

HONG KONG, Oct 06 (Agencies): Anti-government marches in Hong Kong have ended in rioting, with attacks on government offices, a metro station and businesses with ties to mainland China.

Police used water cannon, tear gas and truncheons, reportedly removing masks from demonstrators they arrested, and a number of people were injured.

Tens of thousands of protesters had turned out in the rain, spurred to act by a ban on wearing masks at rallies.

The controversial ban was upheld by the High Court on Sunday.

It was introduced by chief executive Carrie Lam who invoked powers dating back to colonial rule by the British.

Sunday's protests were fuelled by both the mask ban and the use by police of live bullets against protesters, which left two people injured this week.

A wave of rioting in Friday led city metro services to shut down but they had partially resumed on Sunday.

Demonstrators fear that democratic rights are being eroded in the semi-autonomous territory under Chinese rule.

Meanwhile, a group of pro-democracy Hong Kong legislators filed a legal challenge against the government's use of a colonial-era emergency law to criminalize the wearing of masks at rallies to quell anti-government demonstrations, which diminished in intensity but didn't stop.

The mask ban that went into effect at midnight Friday triggered an overnight rash of widespread violence and destruction in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, including the setting of fires and attacks on an off-duty police officer who fired a live shot in self-defense that wounded a 14-year-old.

Two activists failed to obtain a court injunction Friday against the ban on face coverings that the government says have made it tough for police to identify radical protesters.

In a second bid Saturday, lawmaker Dennis Kwok said a group of 24 legislators filed a legal appeal to block the anti-mask law on wider constitutional grounds. He said the city's leader, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, acted in bad faith by bypassing the Legislative Council, Hong Kong's parliament, in invoking the emergency law.

"This is a Henry VIII situation. This is basically I say what is law ... and I say when that ceases to be law. That's not how our constitution works," Kwok told a news conference late Saturday. "We say that she doesn't have such powers, that she cannot avoid" the Legislative Council.

The court will hear the case Sunday morning. Lam has said she will seek the council's backing for the law when its session resumes Oct. 16 and hasn't ruled out further measures if the violence continues.