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Tense Scenes In Hong Kong As Barricades Are Broken Down

Hong Kong Police have arrested several people after protesters and their opposition clashed Monday morning at a busy intersection in the city.
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Hong Kong Police have arrested several people after protesters and their opposition clashed Monday morning at a busy intersection in the beleaguered city.

Local news affiliate iCable shows this footage of several men wearing masks, working alongside taxi drivers, according to most media accounts, who knocked down barricades constructed by protesters. 

Shortly after, police interjected to separate those attempting to remove the barricades from demonstrators who tried to keep them up. Officials arrested several people in the process. 

Pro-democracy protesters have now faced off with police in Hong Kong for three straight weeks. 

After the government canceled talks with protestors last week, the so-called "Umbrella Revolution" has a renewed fervor and doesn't appear to be backing down until its demands are met.

Monday, Hong Kong police started removing barricades blocking traffic all around the city. Police say they did so to help ease the flow of traffic on streets in busier business districts.

But in a tit-for-tat of sorts, demonstrators don't seem to be budging, erecting new blockades out of just about anything they could get their hands on.

CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT IVAN WATSON: "They pushed back a couple of barricades dismantling them. And, as you can see, the demonstrators responded by bringing their tents forward. ... And they've moved forward a little bit."

The Occupy Central movement centers around one main crossroad: the demonstrators want a free democratic election of the city's leader in 2017, Leung Chun-ying refused to oblige.

According to the South China Morning Post, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang hopes the local government can work things out with the protesters on its own but also doesn't want to lose favor with residents living in Hong Kong.

"Beijing doesn’t want to make itself look like an enemy of 7 million people, in particular the younger generation who are leading the protests against Beijing’s restrictive framework for universal suffrage in 2017."

The Post also says student leaders called on Chinese President Xi Jinping to take action in an open letter Saturday. 

The letterreportedly asks the government to "reconsider its decision on electoral reform," promising to honor the current "one country, two systems" approach to governance.

This video includes images from Getty Images.