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Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Hong Kong police charged an 18-year-old student protester -- shot in the chest by an officer -- with rioting during Tuesday's violent anti-government protests. A police officer shot Tsang Chi-kin in the chest as demonstrators clashed with police on Tuesday during protests that coincided with China's celebration of its 70th anniversary of communist rule.
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Tsang, who was recovering in stable condition at the hospital after surgery, was shot in the lung about an inch and a half from his heart.
Following the shooting, the Hong Kong Police Force said the officer fired a "warning shot" at the protester who was then rushed to Princess Margaret Hospital.
The teenager was charged with one count of rioting on Thursday along with seven other men between the ages of 18 and 38. Tsang was additionally charged with two counts of assaulting a police officer and a 38-year-old man received a second charge of arson.
A total of 269 people, including 93 students, were arrested in Hong Kong on National Day as China's President Xi Jinping reiterated the country's commitment to the "peaceful reinforcement of one country, two systems" -- the political framework that Hong Kong has functioned under since it was returned to China from Britain in 1997 -- in a celebratory speech.
Police also fired at least three other live rounds as warning shots on Tuesday, along with some 1,400 canisters of tear gas and 900 rubber bullets in an attempt to quell protesters.
Hong Kong has been rocked with anti-government protests for 18 weeks with what began as unrest toward an extradition bill has evolved into a larger democracy movement against encroaching Beijing restrictions on freedoms the semi-autonomous region enjoys that the rest of the country does not.
