A scuffle broke out in Hong Kong today as students took their pro-democracy protest to government headquarters and called on the city's chief executive to honour his election promise of listening to the people.
About 20 students clashed with police when they pushed barriers and rushed to meet chief executive Leung Chun-ying as he stepped out to meet the crowd.
"Today, we bring a notebook and a pen to C.Y. Leung in hopes that he will honour the promise made during his election speech in which he vowed to listen to the people's requests," student leader Lester Shum said.
Mr Leung is expected to speak to the crowd later.
Thousands of students braved sweltering heat today to demand greater democracy as they launched a week-long boycott of classes, underscoring a restive younger generation's determination to challenge the Chinese Communist Party.
Yesterday’s protest was peaceful but the mood at the university was defiant as demonstrators demanded that nominations for Hong Kong’s next leader in 2017 to be open to everyone.
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China.
The then British territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula that gave it wide-ranging autonomy and an undated promise of universal suffrage.
Beijing said this year it would only permit a vote for pre-screened, pro-Beijing candidates, sparking a wave of marches, rallies and an sit-in in the city’s central business district that lead to hundreds of arrests.
The main organisers of the protests have said they will occupy the city’s business district in coming weeks.
Reuters