* Anti-government protesters march through shopping malls
* Riot police fire tear gas in popular protest area of Mong
Kok
* HK leader says Christmas Eve celebrations have been
"ruined"
(Updates with Carrie Lam comment, one mall forced to close
early)
By Donny Kwok and Lucy Nicholson
HONG KONG, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Hong Kong anti-government
protesters marched through Christmas-decorated shopping centres
on Wednesday, chanting pro-democracy slogans and forcing one
mall to close early, as police fired tear gas to disperse crowds
gathering on nearby streets.
The protests have turned more confrontational over the
festive season, though earlier in December they had been largely
peaceful after pro-democracy candidates overwhelmingly won
district council elections.
Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leaders have made no concessions to
the protesters, despite acknowledging their defeat in November's
council elections.
"Confrontation is expected, it doesn't matter if it's
Christmas," said Chan, a 28-year-old restaurant worker who was
part of a crowd which exchanged insults with police outside a
shopping centre in the Mong Kok district.
"I’m disappointed the government still didn’t respond to any
of our ... demands. We continue to come out even if we don’t
have much hope," said Chan, who only gave his surname.
Riot police patrolled past protest hotspots while tourists
and shoppers, many wearing Santa hats or reindeer antlers,
strolled past.
There were no major clashes, but with impromptu crowds
forming to shout abuse at the deeply unpopular officers, who
have been accused of using excessive force, police briefly fired
tear gas in Mong Kok, a popular protest area.
Police say their reaction to the unrest has been restrained.
Hundreds of protesters, dressed in black and wearing face
masks, descended on shopping malls around the Chinese-ruled
city, shouting popular slogans such as "Liberate Hong Kong!
Revolution of our times!"
Police arrested several people in a shopping mall in the Sha
Tin district after pepper-spraying them. The mall closed early,
with staff directing customers to leave. Other shopping centres
remained open.
Baton-wielding police fired tear gas on Tuesday at thousands
of protesters who barricaded roads, spray-painted slogans on
buildings and trashed a Starbucks cafe and an HSBC branch. A
water cannon truck, flanked by armoured jeeps, roamed the
streets, but was not heavily used.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said in a Facebook post on
Wednesday that many members of the public and tourists were
disappointed that their "Christmas Eve celebrations have been
ruined".
"Such illegal acts have not only dampened the festive mood
but also adversely affected local businesses," she said.
INJURED OVERNIGHT
The Hospital Authority said 25 people had been injured
overnight, including one man who fell from the second to first
floor of a shopping mall as he tried to escape the police.
HSBC has become embroiled in a controversy
involving a police crackdown this month on a fund-raising
platform supporting protesters. HSBC denied any connection
between the crackdown and its closure of a bank account linked
to the group, but remains the target of protester rage.
Starbucks has also become a target of the demonstrators'
anger after the daughter of the founder of Maxim's Caterers,
which owns the local franchise, publicly condemned the
protesters.
The protests started more than six months ago against a
now-withdrawn bill which would have allowed extraditions to
mainland China where courts are controlled by the Communist
Party.
They have since evolved into a broader pro-democracy
movement, with demonstrators angry at what they perceive as
increased meddling by Beijing in the freedoms promised to the
former British colony when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
China denies interfering, saying it is committed to the "one
country, two systems" formula put in place at that time and
blaming foreign forces for fomenting unrest.
(Additional reporting by Mari Saito, Ronn Bautista, Felix Tam
and Twinnie Siu; Writing by Marius Zaharia,
Editing by Gareth Jones and Ed Osmond)
HSBC Holdings (HSBA)