Carlos Barria/Reuters
Violence broke out between pro-democracy protesters and Hong Kong police broke out early Sunday morning, despite the plans to hold talks with the government later in the week. Protesters accused officers of excessive brutality in the fourth night of clashes between the two groups. The government said about 20 people were injured between 10pm Saturday and 6am Sunday, but would not specify the types of injuries. A medic told the AFP he saw four people with "serious bleeding" and one with a back fracture. Police said protesters "suddenly attempted to charge" their barricades, but protesters dispute this account. "There was no aggressive action on our side," said a 30-year-old protester named Jackie. "They hit us without any reason when we were standing behind the roadblock. I was hit by a police stick four or five times." Hours before the clash, Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leader Leung Chun-ying said he would meet with students this coming Tuesday. On-going pro-democracy have been challenging Beijing authority for several weeks, but they had been relatively peaceful for the last three.