Pro-democracy protesters clash with Hong Kong police

Pro-democracy protesters clashed with police in Hong Kong on Thursday for the first time in more than two weeks, amid growing pressure on the demonstrators to abandon the movement that has blocked city streets for over a month.

The skirmishes lasted for about four hours in Hong Kong’s bustling Mongkok shopping district, which has been an epicenter for violent skirmishes between protesters and their opponents as well as occasional crackdowns by police.

Chief among the protesters’ demands is that China’s National People’s Congress scrap a ruling that requires Beijing to pre-screen candidates for the region’s top office of chief executive.

Police said they attempted to arrest a man who was shining his cellphone light into an officers' eyes, and demonstrators responded by charging police lines. The two sides ended up in a tense standoff, with several protesters taunting police.

At about 2:30 a.m. protesters again charged police lines and flooded into a street. Officers responded with pepper spray and pushed the crowd back into their camp.

Police said they arrested three people in the confrontations, which left at least one protester bleeding from the head.

Several demonstrators arrived in Mongkok wearing masks with the grinning likeness of Guy Fawkes, a co-conspirator in a plot to blow up the English Parliament building in 1605. Young protesters worldwide have taken up wearing the mask at demonstrations since it was featured in the 2006 film "V for Vendetta."

Alex Chow, leader of one of the organizations at the helm of the protests, the Hong Kong Federation of Student (HKFS), on Thursday called for a respected intermediary to help arrange a trip to Beijing where the students want to make their case to China's central government for greater electoral freedoms.

"To make the conversation become a reality we need to find a 'middleman' such as Tung Chee-hwa or Rita Fan who can make the arrangements and make the trip workable," Chow told reporters. Tung is a former Hong Kong chief executive, and Fan is a former president of the city's legislative assembly and a delegate to China's legislature. 

Chow said the city government was incapable of resolving the standoff over the protesters' demands for greater democracy, and only Beijing could do so. 

"That is why we think a visit to Beijing is needed," he said. 

China has ruled the former British territory since 1997 under a "one country, two systems" formula that allows wide-ranging autonomy and not granted on the mainland.

Chow did not say who would be part of the students' delegation or when it might go, but he said it need not take place during this weekend's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum meeting in the Chinese capital.

Such a delegation would be highly controversial and there is no guarantee that China would allow pro-democracy activists to travel to Beijing.

Wire services