Dozens of protesters broke through the gates of Hong Kong's government headquarters in an ongoing student demonstration against Beijing's refusal to grant the city unfettered democracy.
Six people were arrested for offences ranging from forcibly entering government property and public disorder to assaulting an officer, police said in a statement yesterday.
Around 150 people pushed into the grounds of the complex, some scaling over a tall exterior fence, as others outside yelled "open the gates".
Police repeatedly used pepper spray on the protesters, who used umbrellas, surgical masks and goggles to protect themselves, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
Officers held up red signs warning people to "stop charging or we use force". Riot police wearing helmets and carrying shields arrived to push back the crowd in the early hours of today morning.
Student groups are spearheading a civil disobedience campaign along with democracy activists in a days-long protest at Beijing's announcement last month that it would vet who can stand for Hong Kong's top post of chief executive at the next election.
By early today, around 1,000 people were outside the Southern Chinese city's main government complex. Numbers had earlier swelled to more than 2,000 as secondary school pupils, some wearing uniforms, joined the university students.
In a statement police confirmed they had made six arrests of Hong Kong citizens aged 16 to 29, and that around 150 students had entered the government grounds. News footage showed officers taking away prominent student leader, Joshua Wong.
Early today, a government statement had "expressed regret" that protesters had stormed the complex, saying security personnel, police officers and protesters had suffered injuries but without giving details.
"We don't care if we get hurt, we don't care if we get arrested, what we care about is getting real democracy," protester Wong Kai-keung said from the front line of the charge.
Teenage pupils -- many saying they had defied their parents' wishes -- earlier descended on Hong Kong's government headquarters to add their voices to a class boycott kicked off by university students on Monday.
Then on Thursday night, more than 2,000 people took their protest to the residence of Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying with the hope of speaking to him. Leung has so far refused to speak to the students or meet their leaders.
