Hong Kong protesters demanding a more democratic rule were confronted by police on Monday as they tried to surround the Hong Kong government's headquarters, resulting in the arrest of at least 40 protesters, according to Reuters.
Student leaders told a crowd on Sunday evening outside the government headquarters announcing that the protests would be escalated in order for their campaign to flourish, CNN reported.
Hundreds of protesters blocked traffic on a main road, but were stopped by police barricades from going down a side road to Chief Executive Leung Chun-Ying's office, according to Reuters.
Many of the protesters wore surgical masks, hard hats and safety goggles, Reuters reported.
As police charged the crowd, protesters pushed back against police lines while getting hit with batons and sprayed with pepper spray, according to CNN.
Demonstrators were able to block off the roads again after police fell back, CNN reported.
Protesters said they were taking action to force a response from Hong Kong's government, which has made little effort to address their demands that it scrap a plan by China's Communist leaders to use a panel of Beijing-friendly elites to screen candidates for Hong Kong's leader in inaugural 2017 elections, according to Reuters.
Hong Kong Federation of Students leader Alex Chow said the protesters had intended to paralyse government headquarters, Reuters reported.
"The plan was a failure on the whole, given that even if some places were occupied, they were cleared by the police immediately," Chow said, according to Reuters.
In a statement, the government said it condemned "violent radicals," saying they had "provoked and verbally abused police officers" and encouraged others to charge police lines, Reuters reported.
