Hong Kong police fire tear gas in running battles after protesters trash legislature

People walk inside the Legislative Council building, after protesters stormed the building on the anniversary of Hong Kong's handover to China, in Hong Kong, China July 1, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong police fired tear gas early on Tuesday to disperse hundreds of defiant protesters, some of whom had stormed and ransacked the city's legislature hours earlier on the anniversary of the city's 1997 return to Chinese rule.

Police arrived in a convoy of buses near midnight as about 1,000 protesters, furious at a proposed law that would allow extraditions to China, were gathered around the council building in the former British colony's financial district in a direct challenge to authorities in Beijing.