Students, alumni and teachers in the Mid-Levels area take part in a joint school human chain rally in Hong Kong Monday. Photo: Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images
Thousands of students formed human chains outside schools across Hong Kong Monday in solidarity with pro-democracy protesters, as the city's government issued a warning to the U.S. to keep out of its affairs, AP reports.
The big picture: The students' silent protest took place a day after violent clashes between police and activists in the semiautonomous Chinese territory following a peaceful march to the U.S. Consulate, where thousands of protesters called on President Trump to "liberate" the former British colony and for Congress to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, per AP.
- Violence erupted between police and protesters following the march, with some activists starting fires and vandalizing a Mass Transit Railway station and police firing tear gas at demonstrators, Reuters reports.
What they're saying: The Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency carried a statement from Hong Kong’s government expressing regret over the bill, which proposes economic sanctions on officials in the city and China who are found to suppress democracy and human rights in the city, per AP.
"[F]oreign legislatures should not interfere in any form in the internal affairs of the [government]."