HK police surprise protesters with tear gas
Protests continue as Hong Kong democracy supporters fill the streets after days of protesting.
Students led peaceful protests on Wednesday to oppose China's new plan to control Hong Kong's 2017 election.
But the protest took a surprising turn yesterday evening at about 6pm when riot police started using force by firing tear gas and pepper spray in a bid to quell the growing number of pro-democracy demonstrators, which went into the thousands as of this morning.
At least 34 people have been injured so far.
In 1997, after Hong Kong, a former British colony was handed over to China, Beijing made a promise that Hong Kong's citizens would be allowed to democratically elect their top leader for the first time.
China appeared to go back on its promise after it announced that the candidates for the election would have to be approved be a special committee.
Frustrated, protestors did not leave the streets last night as they took short rests by sleeping on the streets.
The use of tear gas and pepper spray has not deterred demonstrators as thousands more have joined in and are now occupying Causeway Bay, Mongkok and Admiralty.
Despite protest leaders asking supporters to leave as the police were starting to use force, they chose to stay.
After tear gas was unleashed on the protesters last night, protesters chose to use umbrellas to protect themselves.
The hashtag #umbrellarevolution has since started taking over #occupycentral as the social media hashtag on Twitter.
A symbol of the protests has since begun to make its rounds on Facebook, although the designer is not known.
This morning at 7.30, South China Morning Post reported that protesters refused to negotiate with police to open the road to commuters trying to get to work and school.
Loud jeers are heard from demonstrators as Chinese flag turns upside down at 7.25am. It is unclear if it's intentional.
Sources: South China Morning Post, Vox, AFP, Reuters, Twitter
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