HONG KONG, December 1. /TASS/. Around 40 protesters have been detained after overnight clashes with police near the government buildings in downtown Hong Kong.

At least four police officers have been injured, a local public broadcaster RTHK reports.

Hundreds of demonstrators came to the government headquarters in the city’s Admiralty district late on Sunday. The protesters, wearing respiratory masks, protective glasses and helmets, attempted to break into the buildings.

Police used batons and pepper sprays to disperse the crowd.

Many protesters remained in the protest zone until Monday morning, blocking the entrances to the buildings, thus forcing government officials to suspend the work and cancel all the scheduled events.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, has been hit by protests for more than two months. The demonstrators’ key demands are that Beijing cancels restrictions at elections of chief executive in 2017 and ensures that they are free and based on universal suffrage.

Under these slogans, the students have staged mass demonstrations which reached their peak in the first week of October, when tens of thousands of local residents took to the streets.