A Hong Kong police officer shot a protester in the chest on Tuesday after he and his unit were attacked by demonstrators during sustained clashes in the city, a police source said.
"An officer discharged his firearm after coming under attack and a protester was struck in the chest in Tsuen Wan district today," the source said, requesting anonymity. The wounded protester received initial first aid from officers before paramedics arrived and took him to hospital, the source added.
Police fired tear gas as thousands of anti-government protesters fanned out across Hong Kong on Tuesday, posing a direct challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping as he celebrated the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic.
The Chinese territory has been on edge for weeks, with authorities scrambling to avoid protesters spoiling Beijing's birthday parade at a time when the central government is already grappling with a US-China trade war and a slowing economy.
Peaceful protests descended into chaos with police firing volleys of tear gas outside a famous Taoist temple in the residential district of Wong Tai Sin and the New Territories area of Sha Tin.
Nearly four months of street clashes and demonstrations have plunged the former British colony into its biggest political crisis in decades and pose the gravest popular challenge to President Xi since he came to power.
Thousands of black-clad protesters, some wearing Guy Fawkes masks, marched from Causeway Bay toward government headquarters in Admiralty, defying a ban on a rally and setting up the likelihood of clashes with police.
Protesters had vowed to seize the opportunity on Tuesday to propel their calls for greater democracy onto the international stage, hijacking an occasion Beijing sees as an opportunity to showcase China's economic and military progress.
Demonstrators blocked roads across the territory in frantic game of cat-and-mouse with police, piling pressure on already stretched security resources.
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