Pro-democracy clashes in Hong Kong leave 20 injured

At least 20 people were injured after demonstrators stormed barricades and clashed with police.

Dozens of police with shields and helmets pushed into a crowd of protesters gathered at barricades in the shopping district of Mong Kok early on Sunday, striking at them repeatedly with batons.

The fourth night of violence comes after nearly three weeks of pro-democracy rallies.

Emergency officials said some protesters had to be carried away on stretchers and others were treated for head wounds, fractures and bruising.

Police said in a statement that they had used "minimum force" as protesters "suddenly attempted to charge" their cordon lines.

Analysts say the latest clashes came after activists issued calls on social media for protestors to expand barricades and take over another intersection.

The mostly peaceful protests, triggered by a decision by Beijing to restrict the 2017 vote for the territory's leader, have at times drawn tens of thousands of people and cut off traffic.

The protesters want 2017 elections for a new leader to be fully democratic. Beijing, which took control of Hong Kong from the UK in 1997, is allowing only pre-approved candidates to stand.

In an effort to defuse the protests, Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leader Leung Chun-ying offered to talk to activists to focus on constitutional reform, but despite the talks, any hopes of breakthrough are slim with the government unlikely to cede to protesters’ demands.