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Hong Kong protests: Police move in to clear main road | Hong Kong protests: Police move in to clear main road |
(35 minutes later) | |
Police in Hong Kong have clashed with pro-democracy protesters as they tried to clear an underpass near the city government headquarters. | Police in Hong Kong have clashed with pro-democracy protesters as they tried to clear an underpass near the city government headquarters. |
Reports say hundreds of police officers wearing riot gear used pepper spray to disperse the protesters, arresting several people in the process. | Reports say hundreds of police officers wearing riot gear used pepper spray to disperse the protesters, arresting several people in the process. |
At a briefing before the clashes, police said they had to clear Lung Wo Road as it was a major thoroughfare. | |
Demonstrators have occupied parts of Hong Kong for more than two weeks. | Demonstrators have occupied parts of Hong Kong for more than two weeks. |
The protesters, a mix of students and a pro-democracy group called Occupy Central, are demanding fully free elections in the next vote for the territory's leader. | |
China, which has control over Hong Kong, says residents can vote - but it will vet which candidates are eligible to stand. | |
It is the third day of operations that police say are necessary to ease traffic disruption, but which they insist are not aimed at clearing the protesters. | |
Their new advance came hours after protesters blockaded the underpass after being cleared out of other areas of the city on Tuesday. | |
Local television networks broadcast live footage of scuffles, showing police arresting many protesters whose hands were tied with plastic cuffs. | |
The protesters are now in their third week of occupying key parts of the city in a bid to put pressure on China and Hong Kong's authorities to answer their calls for reform. | |
Thousands of people took to the streets at the beginning of the demonstrations but the numbers have dwindled in recent days. | |
Over the weekend, Hong Kong's embattled leader CY Leung said the protesters had zero chance of changing Beijing's mind on constitutional reform, saying the protests had spun out of control. | |
Hong Kong democracy timeline | |
Q&A: Hong Kong's democracy controversy |