http://www.todayonline.com/chinaindia/china/street-clashes-erupt-hk-despite-imminent-talks?singlepage=true
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| A protester carries a banner that reads "bad police". |
The worst political crisis in Hong Kong entered its fourth week with no sign of a resolution, despite talks scheduled for two hours tomorrow between the government and student protest leaders.
Beijing has signalled through Hong Kong’s leaders that it is not willing to reverse a decision in August that effectively denies the Asian financial hub the full democracy the protesters are demanding.
Hong Kong’s 28,000-strong police have been struggling to contain a youth-led movement that has shown little sign of waning after three weeks of stand-offs.
Demonstrators in the gritty Mong Kok district launched a fresh assault early yesterday, putting on helmets and goggles before surging forward to grab a line of metal barricades, hemming them into a section of road.
Hundreds of police officers hit out at a wall of umbrellas that protesters raised to fend off pepper spray. Violent scuffles erupted before the police surged forward with riot shields, forcing protesters back. An activist in a white T-shirt and goggles was hit with a flurry of baton blows, leaving him bleeding from a gash in the head. Several protesters were taken away.
The clashes came hours after Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing leader Leung Chun-ying called for tomorrow’s talks, which will be broadcast live.
The demonstrations pose one of the biggest challenges for China since the crushing of a pro-democracy movement in Beijing in 1989.
Protesters resting during the day yesterday were defiant and also angry that the city government was portraying their campaign as increasingly radicalised and violent.
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