HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong activists who clashed with police in some of the territory's biggest violence are vowing to keep protesting an extradition bill that has become a lightning rod for concerns over Chinese control and eroding freedoms.

Police used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowds on Wednesday. More than 70 people were injured.

Hong Kong's Legislative Council, where pro-Beijing lawmakers are in majority, was forced to delay the proceedings on a bill allowing suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial.

It is the biggest political crisis in years for the semiautonomous Chinese territory that was handed over from British to Chinese rule in 1997, and demonstrates the wide dissatisfaction and anger toward China's ruling Communist Party.

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