Thousands of protesters have scuffled with police in Hong Kong, stepping up their movementfor democratic reforms after being camped out on the city’s streets for more than two months.Student protest leaders on Sunday night told a big crowd rallying at the main protest site outside government headquarters that they would escalate their campaign.As of 17:30 GMT (01:30 AM on Monday local time), hundreds of police officers were engaged in scuffles with protesters as they tried to disperse the crowd. Several protesters carrying umbrellas were chased by police as they rushed to a underground highway.Police have been trying to hold back the protesters as they tried to surround the government complex and several protesters were injured in the ensuing scuffle, Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride,reporting from Hong Kong, said.“It’s a pretty chaotic scene. Police are chasing demonstrators,” our correspondent said, adding that the clashes were “the most violent in the last two months.”“It’s a very ugly scene in Hong Kong tonight.”The crowd tried to push its way down a narrow staircase in an attempt to get to the office of the city’s Beijing-backed leader.Hundreds of protesters charged past police lines, blocking traffic on a main road, but were stopped by police barricades from going down an access road to Chief Executive Leung Chun-Ying’s office.Our correspondent said that police “completely lost control” of the main protest site, as several hundred demonstrators spilled over into the streets.Protesters said they would occupy the road until Monday morning to prevent Leung and other government officials from getting to work.They said they were escalating their protest to force a response from Hong Kong’s government, which has made little effort to address. The protesters want fully democratic elections to elect the next leader in 2017.
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