Tens of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators are flooding the streets of Hong Kong in solidarity after police responded to a peaceful student sit-in with excessive force this past weekend, New York Magazine reports.

Recent images circulated online show Hong Kong students being tear gassed and elderly demonstrators being pepper sprayed in the face.

Many worldwide have been drawing comparisons between the police attacks on protesters in Hong Kong and those in Ferguson, Missouri, noting the Hong Kong protesters’ use of the same “hands up, don’t shoot” gesture made symbolic by the slain teen Michael Brown.

Organized in part by Occupy Central and the Hong Kong Federation of Students, the protests were held to demand the resignation of current chief executive Leung Chung-ying, as well as continued autonomy for Hong Kong and democratic elections in 2017, as previously promised.

Students make up a majority of the protesters, but reports say that the Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union and other professionals have joined the young people with respective strikes.

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(Photo: Alex Ogle/AFP/Getty Images)