Hawzah News Agency - Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam has offered an apology to the Muslim community in the Chinese city after police forces accidentally fired blue water cannon at a major mosque there amid clashes with anti-government protesters.

On Sunday, scores of riot police marched through Hong Kong’s streets, firing tear gas and using water cannon trucks to disperse petrol the protesters, spraying jets of blue dye into the crowds in Honk Kong’s northern Kowloon region.

Hong Kong’s biggest mosque was also hit.

The city’s police force said the truck sprayed water on the mosque’s front gate by accident, stating it has reached out to the mosque's imam and Muslim community leaders to “clarify the situation.”

“(We) respect religious freedom and will strive to protect all places of worship,” the police said in a statement.

Videos obtained by Reuters showed people — most of them wearing face masks in defiance of the city’s emergency mask ban —cleaning up blue dye left on the steps of the Kowloon Mosque.