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In Pictures: The height of Hong Kong protests

Unprecedented in size, massive occupations of areas in Hong Kong piled on pressure for democratic reform by China.

A protester holds a defaced picture of Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying during the occupation of government headquarters in Admiralty district on Saturday.
By Miguel Candela
Published On 6 Oct 2014

Hong Kong, China – Hong Kong protests appeared to be running out of steam on Monday after 11 days of intense demonstrations demanding that China implement electoral reform to allow people to pick the leader of their choice.

Even though the upcoming election in 2017 will give Hong Kong citizens a vote for their leader for the first time, the current system restricts the candidates to those put forward by a pro-Beijing committee.

Hong Kong has enjoyed political autonomy and freedom since its return from British rule to China in 1997 under a formula known as “one country, two systems”. Chinese leaders agreed then that the “chief executive” of Hong Kong would be directly chosen through democratic elections in 2017, but Beijing has not kept that promise.

Unprecedented in size, protests and massive occupations of areas on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon have put pressure on the government by stifling its activities and commerce in one of Asia’s major financial centres.

While the protesters were mostly peaceful, police fired tear-gas and pepper-spray to disperse them, and violent confrontations erupted with pro-government supporters. After stern warnings by the Hong Kong government to clear out, protesters started leaving the occupied spaces. 

Hundreds of protesters staged peaceful sit-ins on the streets of the financial district in Hong Kong for more than a week.
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A demonstrator plays music on a street in Mong Kok district.
Secondary school students rally in support of the so-called "umbrella movement" in Admiralty area, which houses government offices. 
Police officers band together attempting to keep protesters from overrunning government buildings.
Demonstrators hold their ground in the early stages of the occupation against security officers dressed in riot gear.
A policeman fires pepper-spray at a protester trying to break through police lines and into government offices. 
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Occupy Central supporters don protective gear against gas and spray, and voice their discontent with police after violence erupted. 
A group of riot police confronts with a protester.
A demostrator sits with arms up as tear gas was fired.
Crowds later anticipated the use of tear-gas and pepper-spray and used a wide variety of eye goggles and face masks to negate the effects.
Brian, a university student, wore a gas mask after clashes with police the previous night. He communicated with others on a walkie-talkie to check if police were resuming their toxic assaults. 
In typically neat-and-tidy Hong Kong fashion, Occupy Central supporters collected trash and gathered beverage bottles discarded by protesters to be recycled.
In many areas during the protests, police officers were largely outnumbered by demonstrators. 
As symbol of the protesters(***) peaceful intentions, a demonstrator holds a flower in front of a police barricade outside a government office.