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Pro-democracy protesters storm Hong Kong government complex

Six arrested in early morning hours on Saturday
Pro-democracy protesters storm Hong Kong government complex
Pro-democracy protesters clash with police during a demonstration at the government headquarters in Hong Kong in the early hours of Saturday morning (AFP Photo/Xaume Olleros)
 
Published: September 27, 2014 02:40 AM GMT
Updated: September 26, 2014 03:40 PM GMT

More than 100 protesters broke through the gates of Hong Kong's government headquarters as a student demonstration against Beijing's refusal to grant the city unfettered democracy turned angry.

Six people were arrested for offences ranging from forcibly entering government property and public disorder to assaulting an officer, police said in a statement in the early hours of Saturday.

Student groups have been spearheading a civil disobedience campaign along with democracy activists all week in protest at Beijing's announcement last month that it would choose who can stand for Hong Kong's top post of chief executive in elections in 2017.

Around 150 people pushed into the grounds of the complex late Friday, police said, some scaling a high fence, as others outside yelled "open the gates".

"We don't care if we get hurt, we don't care if we get arrested, what we care about is getting real democracy," protester Wong Kai-keung said from the front line of the charge.

Police repeatedly used pepper spray against protesters, who used umbrellas, surgical masks and goggles to protect themselves.

Around 50 demonstrators were still in the complex by early Saturday, surrounded by riot police, who had forcibly removed most of the others.

Around 1,000 protesters had joined the demonstration outside the Southern Chinese city's main government complex through the night.

Numbers had earlier hit more than 2,000 as secondary school pupils, some as young as 13, joined Friday's protest, shouting: "I want real elections not fake ones".

In a statement police said they had arrested six people aged 16 to 29. News footage showed officers taking away a prominent student leader, Joshua Wong.

In a statement, the government "expressed regret" that protesters had stormed the complex, saying security personnel, police officers and protesters had suffered injuries but without giving details. AFP

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