HONG KONG, November 26. /TASS/. A total of 116 demonstrators have been detained over the past 24 hours in Hong Kong as they clashed with police to protest against the operation to remove barricades.

The protesters, including key student leaders, have been held for unlawful assembly, assaulting or obstructing police.

More than 20 bailiffs joined by police officers on Tuesday started dismantling wooden and metal barricades in Mong Kok, on the western part of Kowloon Peninsula, one of the key protest sites. Police used tear gas and batons to disperse the crowds.

On Wednesday, Hong Kong saw new clashes, and thousands of police officers have been deployed to the districts.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, has been hit by protests for almost two months, with demonstrators calling to revise the procedure approved by the parliament on holding elections of chief executive in 2017.

China insists that candidates should be first approved by a special committee, while protesters believe this is an undemocratic procedure and urge Beijing to lift the restrictions.

Although the protests have recently subsided, every day dozens of activists staying in tent camps continue disrupting the traffic in key streets of three protest sites in the city.