Hong Kong police use batons and pepper spray, protesters fend off with umbrellas

The fight for democracy rages in Hong Kong and while the police are using batons and pepper sprays to disperse the crowd, the protesters are defending themselves with umbrellas news.sky.com. As a result, the 9000-strong crowd managed to put the police on the back foot and they retreated.
Once the police moved away, the activists reoccupied their protest camp and rebuild makeshift barricades from packing crates and fences in an area of the Mong Kok district – the police had cleared the area to traffic just hours before.
Reports indicate that at least 33 people were arrested in the skirmishes, while 18 officers were among the injured. The protests, calling for fully free elections and the resignation of the territory's leader, Leung Chun-ying, have been going on for three weeks.
The latest incident of unrest has come just hours after Mr Leung had offered to hold talks with student leaders next week in an attempt to defuse the protests. As informed by his chief secretary, the duration of the talks would be of two hours.
Incidentally, China wants that the person who would replace Mr Leung in elections in 2017 must be vetted by a committee that is expected to be loyal to Beijing.