Hong Kong protesters try to storm legislature

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police arrested four men early Wednesday after a small group of protesters tried to force their way into the city's legislature in overnight clashes.

The arrests came after authorities cleared some barricades a day earlier from a small section of a site occupied by pro-democracy activists for nearly two months.

Police used pepper spray against the umbrella-wielding protesters, who they said repeatedly charged their cordon and injured three officers.

The protesters used metal barricades and concrete slabs to smash glass doors at the entrance to the legislature.

At one point, pro-democracy lawmaker Fernando Chiu tried to intervene but was pulled aside by some protesters so that others could continue ramming the glass.

Chiu told reporters that he saw one person enter the building.

He and other lawmakers from the so-called "pan-democrat" camp condemned the violence, saying it undermined the non-violent protest movement.

The student-led democracy protesters reject restrictions laid down by Beijing on inaugural 2017 elections for the southern Chinese financial hub's top leader.

The clashes and the court-ordered barricade clearance hours earlier underscore the protest movement's turn to a riskier phase as student leaders run out of options.

The violence apparently involved protesters who organized their action through an Internet forum with a reputation for attracting people with radical views.