Approaching 2 a.m. Saturday, Hong Kong time, unarmed police moved in on pro-democracy protestors situated around police headquarters as fast-moving events unfolded in the embattled city-state.

Pictures on CNN News showed police confronting protestors just outside police headquarters. Protestors had surrounded the building, with some clashes breaking out as police changed shifts.

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Dozens of police equipped with anti-riot batons and pepper spray shoved past demonstrators who chanted for them to put away the batons. Police forced their way through the crowd in an aggressive manner, injuring some protesters, as officers tried to gain access to their headquarters.

Police said they were unarmed and just trying to bring supplies to their headquarters. Protestors said the police went along a pedestrian bridge and kept pushing demonstrators away from barriers to the headquarters entrance, kicking and throwing some protestors to the ground.

Hong Kong officials said Friday the protests were doomed to failure and protesters would have to leave central business districts at some point. A front-page editorial in the state-run People's Daily said Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying had the full support of the Chinese government.

A relatively small crowd at the central downtown district near a major bridge and police and government buildings swelled to the thousands again through the night, despite the presence of significant rain. Just the presence of police at times caused immediate uproar from the crowd.

These fast-moving events take place in a supercharged, emotional environment that was marked by increasingly violent clashes between pro-democracy protestors and opponents. Thrown in the tinderbox was the decision by protest leadership to cancel talks with the government that had been agreed to the previous day.

Clashes between protestors and opponents turned heated overnight as opponents late Friday began removing barricades set up by demonstrators, sparking street fighting. It wasn't immediately clear whether the mob-style violence sparked by opponents of pro-democracy demonstrators was spontaneous or brought about by pro-Beijing officials within the Hong Kong government.

It also was unclear whether the new violence amidst a movement that has endeavored to maintain a  peaceful posture would spark an official crackdown on the crowds or an even stronger 1989 Tienanmen Square-type crackdown.

Protesters expressed concern that authorities would bring in People's Liberation Army units to clear the central Hong Kong area.

Tagsoccupy central, Occupy Central with Love and Peace, Hong Kong, C.Y. Leung, People's Daily, umbrella revolution, Hong Kong pro-democracy, hong kong protests