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Residents of Tsuen Wan gather at an open air stadium to protest a teenage demonstrator shot at close range in the chest by a police officer in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. Hong Kong office workers and schoolmates of the teenage demonstrator rallied Wednesday to condemn police tactics and demand accountability. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
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World briefs: Hong Kong police slammed as ‘trigger-happy’ after teen shot

Vincent Thian

World briefs: Hong Kong police slammed as ‘trigger-happy’ after teen shot

Plus: At Istanbul memorial for Jamal Khashoggi, a moment’s silence, then shouts for justice; Europe praises Ukraine deal, but opposition sees a betrayal; and more.

HONG KONG — Holding up posters saying “Don’t shoot our kids,” Hong Kong residents and schoolmates of a teenage demonstrator shot in the chest by a police officer rallied Wednesday to condemn police actions and demand accountability.

The shooting Tuesday during widespread anti-government demonstrations on China’s National Day was a fearsome escalation of Hong Kong’s protest violence. The 18-year-old is the first known victim of police gunfire since the protests began in June. He was hospitalized and the government said his condition was stable.

The officer fired as the teen, Tsang Chi-kin, struck him with a metal rod. The officer’s use of lethal weaponry inflamed already widespread public anger against police, who have been condemned as being heavy-handed in quelling the unrest.

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“The Hong Kong police have gone trigger-happy and nuts,” pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo said.

Mo, who said she repeatedly watched videos of the shooting, echoed what many people expressed.

“The sensible police response should have been to use a police baton or pepper spray, etc., to fight back. It wasn’t exactly an extreme situation and the use of a live bullet simply cannot be justified,” she said.

More than 2,000 people chanted “No rioters, only tyranny” as they filled an open-air stadium near Tsang’s school in Tsuen Wan district in northern Hong Kong on Wednesday night. Many held posters reading, “Don’t shoot our kids” and held an arm across their chest below their left shoulder — the location of Tsang’s gunshot wound.

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At Istanbul memorial for Jamal Khashoggi, a moment’s silence, then shouts for justice

ISTANBUL - The memorial service for Jamal Khashoggi was held in the shadow of the Saudi Consulate on Wednesday, on the first anniversary of his death, at the minute he walked through the consulate door, the last time that anyone who cared about the journalist saw him alive.

A speaker, David Hearst, asked for silence to mark the occasion. Then participants began to shout: for justice, for remembrance, for this death to resonate, on behalf of others whose deaths, disappearances or imprisonments had passed without notice.

The service started with Khashoggi’s own words, in a video broadcast on a screen behind the stage, voicing demands that were both routine and impossible.

“I am 60 years old,” the Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributing columnist said in the recording. “I want to enjoy life, and I want to be free to speak for my country.”

The country, Saudi Arabia, had no representatives on a dais that hosted a chorus of its critics. It would have been strange had any been invited. Saudi government agents are accused of killing Khashoggi on that Tuesday last year, of dismembering his body, of concealing the location of his remains.

The agents were dispatched by top Saudi officials, convinced that Khashoggi’s words, written in columns for The Post, were a grave threat to the state. The officials worked for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who almost certainly authorized the killing, according to the CIA and other intelligence agencies, but who has steadfastly denied it.

“Absolutely not,” was Mohammed’s answer when asked recently whether he had ordered Khashoggi’s death.

Europe praises Ukraine deal, but opposition sees a betrayal

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia and European powers, eager to end a protracted military conflict in war-torn eastern Ukraine, welcomed a new accord between Ukraine and Russia-backed separatists, but many in Ukraine dismissed the election agreement Wednesday as a capitulation to Moscow.

In the deal signed Tuesday, Ukraine, Russia and mediators Germany and France agreed a local election could be held in Ukraine’s rebel-held east, where a grinding five-year conflict between the separatists and Ukrainian troops has killed more than 13,000 people.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised the accord as a major step toward resolving the conflict. The election pledge was seen as the final hurdle to Zelenskiy, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of France and Germany setting a summit for peace talks.

But other Ukrainian politicians raised alarms about the accord, saying it opens the door to cementing Russia’s presence in the region.

“This is capitulation to Russia,” former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, now a member of parliament, told reporters.

Poroshenko said the deal is “playing into Russia’s hands” because Ukraine committed to holding the local election but did not receive any guarantees that it would regain control over of all of its border with Russia.

A 2015 peace agreement, brokered by France and Germany and signed in Minsk, Belarus, envisaged Ukraine regaining full control of its border with Russia only after the rebel regions receive broad autonomy and elect local and regional leaders and legislatures.

Man confesses to brutal killings that terrorized South Korea, police say

SEOUL, South Korea — A 56-year-old man has confessed to raping and murdering 14 women more than two decades ago, South Korean police said Wednesday, as they closed in on the man that they believe is the culprit in the country’s most infamous serial killings.

Lee Chun-jae emerged as a prime suspect in the killings after police revealed last month that his DNA matched samples taken from at least four of nine killings that took place in Hwaseong, south of Seoul, between 1986 and 1991.

Lee has since confessed to investigators that he committed not only all nine murders but also raped and killed five other women in Hwaseong and nearby cities, Ban Gi-soo, a senior police investigator, said during a news conference Wednesday. Separately, Lee also confessed to committing 30 rapes or attempted rapes, Ban said.

For decades, the Hwaseong serial murders have spawned such fear among South Koreans that they became the best-known cold cases in the country. The victims, ranging in age from 14 to 71, were strangled to death after their mouths were stuffed with their stockings, bras or socks. Some of the bodies were mutilated with umbrellas, forks or razor blades.

A total of 2 million police officers were mobilized to hunt for the killer over the years, and more than 21,000 men were interrogated in the case. The killings also inspired the 2003 blockbuster movie “Memories of Murder.”

Although the 15-year statute of limitations on the last of the Hwaseong killings expired in 2006, police refused to close their files, continuing to collect tips and analyze evidence collected from murder scenes. Recent advances in DNA analysis allowed them to extract DNA samples from evidence, which was not possible at the time of the killings.

First Published: October 3, 2019, 6:19 a.m.

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Residents of Tsuen Wan gather at an open air stadium to protest a teenage demonstrator shot at close range in the chest by a police officer in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. Hong Kong office workers and schoolmates of the teenage demonstrator rallied Wednesday to condemn police tactics and demand accountability. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)  (Vincent Thian)
Vincent Thian
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