Hong Kong protesters clash with police at government HQ

Hundreds of pro-democracy activists scuffled with police in Hong Kong on Sunday as they tried to encircle government headquarters.

With the crowds chanting “surround government headquarters” and “open the road”, hundreds of people made their way to the buildings in Admiralty, next to the city’s central business district.

Police used pepper spray to disperse the protesters who held up umbrellas to protect themselves from.

The scuffles came after two student groups, who have led the two-month long civil disobedience campaign, urged supporters to escalate their actions at the main protest site.

The flare-up comes after four nights of clashes in the district of Mong Kok, across the harbour from Admiralty, after police on Wednesday cleared that area, which had been the main site for protesters over the last two months. Twenty eight people were arrested there on Friday and Saturday.

Protesters are demanding free elections for the city’s next leader in 2017, not the vote between pre-screened candidates that Beijing has said it will allow.

Reuters