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Hong Kong protesters broke into the city’s legislative building before police arrived to stop them.
There followed several confrontations both in the building and on the street outside.
Last week an injunction was issued forbidding street barricades and ordering the dismantling of all but the main protest site.
One protester, his face partially covered with a scarf, explained the symbolism of breaking into the building:
“The glass was broken because the government refuses to listen to us. Through the action of charging, we want to let the government know they are behind the glass and we have to deliver our voices inside. When they refuse to respond, it is entirely their fault.”
Protesters have been occupying areas of the city for more than seven weeks, demanding open nominations for Hong Kong’s chief executive elections in 2017. China is insisting on screening candidates.
Hong Kong was returned to China from British colonial rule in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula that gives the city more autonomy and freedom than the mainland, with an eventual goal of universal suffrage.