BEIJING
Hong Kong police fired tear gas and used pepper spray Sunday as officers moved against thousands of pro-democracy supporters massing in central parts of the former British colony.
The U.K.’s Guardian newspaper reported that thousands of protesters had gathered in central locations of Hong Kong. The authorities have promised sterner measures to clear groups of activists from roads and other thoroughfares.
The protesters are angry at restrictions being placed on the choice of candidates who can run for election in the territory, which is now under Chinese sovereignty.
The ‘Occupy Central’ movement started mass protests after Beijing’s National Congress Standing Committee decided last month that candidates for the 2017 Hong Kong elections would be approved by a "broadly representative" committee.
Activists are demanding a referendum and that candidates be chosen directly by the people. The protesters view Beijing’s proposals as a betrayal of their territory while the central government insists that Hong Kong -- as a ‘Special Administrative Region’ -- already has considerable autonomy.
Hong Kong’s leader, Chief Executive C.Y. Leung, has described the protests as "illegal" and has said that police will continue to contain the mass demonstration.
Leung was elected by committee in 2012 but Occupy Central demonstrators believe that the body’s members are tightly loyal to the central Chinese government.
Hong Kong was handed back to the Chinese authorities in 1997 after being under British control for more than 150 years.
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