On Sunday, thousands of protesters, calling for the democratization of the election system in China’s special administrative region, blocked the central streets of Hong Kong.

The protests are part of a campaign of civil disobedience called "Occupy Central with Peace and Love" aimed at paralyzing the key business area and push Hong Kong and mainland China to revise their election plans.

The Hong Kong residents maintain that they have the right to freely elect the chief executive of the territory, which was handed by Britain back to China in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" formula that guarantees freedoms not seen on the mainland, including the right to protest.

China’s authorities have promised to allow this practice in 2017 on condition that there are no more than three candidates who need to be approved by the nominating committee controlled by Beijing.