<span style="color: #222222;">Hong Kong police fired tear gas at protesters holding a banned rally today against suspected triad gangs who beat up pro-democracy demonstrators near the Chinese border last weekend. <br />''</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Riot police fired multiple rounds of tear gas in Yuen Long after tense standoffs with protesters, some of whom were throwing projectiles and had surrounded a police van.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"><br />'' Public anger has been raging since last Sunday when a gang of men in white t-shirts, armed with poles and batons, set upon anti-government protesters and bystanders in Yuen Long station, leaving at least 45 people needing hospital treatment.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"><br />''The brazen assault was the latest escalation in seven weeks of unprecedented political violence that shows little sign of abating as the city's pro-Beijing leaders refuse to budge.</span>