China has issued a strong warning to Hong Kong’s protesters, saying their attempts “to play with fire will only backfire”.
A spokesman for China’s top policy office in Hong Kong told protesters not to “underestimate the firm resolve [of] the central government”.
Anti-China forces are the “behind-the-scenes masterminds” of violence in the city, the spokesman claimed.
Hong Kong has seen nine consecutive weekends of anti-government protests.
On Monday, the city’s leader Carrie Lam warned that it was “on the verge of a very dangerous situation”.
In her first media address in two weeks, she also accused activists of using the extradition bill as a cover for their real goals.
The protests, first sparked by a controversial extradition bill, show no sign of abating after more than two months of demonstrations.
A city-wide strike on Monday crippled transport services and brought the city to a standstill.
Protests later took place in several districts, with police firing tear gas at demonstrators who rallied into the night, setting fires and besieging police stations.
