Fresh clashes broke out in Hong Kong Friday night as pro-democracy demonstrators attempted to take back a protest camp in a densely populated suburb that had been partially cleared by police earlier in the day.

Police used pepper spray and batons to beat back activists as they tried to reoccupy a busy main road in the bustling Mongkok district that had been host to a protest camp for nearly three weeks, an AFP reporter on the scene saw.

Earlier in the day officers had significantly reduced the size of the camp in a swift dawn raid that saw no resistance put up by protesters campaigning for full democracy in the southern Chinese city.

But throughout the day demonstrators had managed to hold on to one side of a multi-lane road where the camp had been located and police struggled to maintain order as crowds of pro-democracy supporters began to swell during the evening.

Violence broke out around 8pm (1200 GMT) after several protesters tried to push through a police cordon around the cleared protest camp which lay at a busy intersection in district that had seen frequent clashes between demonstrators and masked government loyalists.

Protesters unfurled umbrellas and pushed against police lines prompting officers to respond with baton strikes and pepper spray in an attempt to hold back the surging crowds.

An AFP reporter saw at least two protesters led away by police, some of whom donned helmets and riot shields.