Hong Kong protests flare up again, Govt HQ closed

Pro-democracy protests flared yet again in Hong Kong, with the demonstrators clashing with the police outside the Chief Executive's office, reports said Monday.

Hong Kong: Pro-democracy protests flared yet again in Hong Kong, with the demonstrators clashing with the police outside the Chief Executive's office, causing the government headquarter to close temporarily, reports said Monday.

Police armed with water cannons, batons and even pepper spray were seen battling with the protesters to keep them at bay outside the Government headquarters at Lung Wo Road.

The unrest caused the government offices, and the legislature to close besides the closure of many shops in Admiralty Centre. Commuters had a hard time traveling to their destinations as the protests led to traffic snarls.

Called on by student leaders to protest, hundreds of activists thronged outside Chief Executive CY Leung's office at Lung Wo Road in Hong Kong's Admiralty district last night. 

According to police, they had arrested some 40 protesters and some of their officers were injured in the clashes, the BBC reported.

Hong Kong's Student Federation in a tweet mocked the police for having said that they were just “spraying water” instead of using water cannon.

In press conference, police claimed they were not using water cannon, they were just spraying water. LOL pic.twitter.com/B64cn0l7lL — 學聯 HKFS (@HKFS1958) December 1, 2014

In another tweet, the students posted a photo of the protest area.

All banners hanging on Admiralty Centre - Government Office Bridge are cleared. #UmbrellaMovement #OccupyHK pic.twitter.com/pf8gR8EPe1 — 學聯 HKFS (@HKFS1958) December 1, 2014

The fresh protests in Admiralty comes just a week after the police dismantled one of the major protest camps in Mong Kok.

Hong Kong has been witnessing an unprecedented demonstration by pro-democracy protesters who are against China's vetting of candidates for first-ever elections for Hong Kong's leader scheduled for 2017.

China has so far been hand-picking the leaders of Hong Kong and even though it has agreed to allow universal suffrage in Hong Kong, it still insists to use a screening committee to select the candidates for 2017 polls.

The protests began in September in the form of a boycott by university and college students demanding electoral reforms, and picked momentum after the leaders of Occupy Central civil disobedience movement joined them.