Hong Kong police in fresh assault on protest barricades

HONG KONG, Oct 14 (AFP): Hong Kong police vowed Tuesday to tear down more street barricades manned by pro-democracy protesters, hours after hundreds of officers armed with chainsaws and boltcutters partially cleared two major roads occupied for a fortnight.

In a concerted effort to reduce the territory held by protesters, police tore down barricades in the bustling shopping district of Causeway Bay and on the edge of the main protest encampment in Admiralty, near the city government's headquarters.

They also vowed to target protester cordons in Mongkok, a working-class district known for its triad gangs where violence has previously broken out.

Huge crowds have intermittently rallied against China's insistence that it will vet candidates standing for election as the semi-autonomous city's next leader in 2017 -- a move protesters have labelled as "fake democracy".