HONG KONG (Reuters) - Clashes erupted between security forces and protesters in Hong Kong on Saturday, as protesters closed a main street in the city's Mongkok district after clashes with police who used tear gas and water cannons to disperse them.

Protesters scattered stones to cut off Nathan Road, a highway lined with shops, on the Kowloon Peninsula, located on the southern side of Hong Kong.

Traffic disruption is a tactic to distract security forces from repelling demonstrators gathered at the Polytechnic University campus (central Cologne).

On the other hand, a local police officer was injured in the leg after being hit by an arrow during the confrontations with the protesters.

This is not the first time that the demonstrators used arrows in their movement against the government, but it is the first time that the announcement of the injury of a security officer those arrows.

The protests escalated following the emergence of Chinese People's Liberation Army soldiers on the streets of Hong Kong yesterday.

Since June, Hong Kong, a former British colony, has been experiencing its worst political crisis since its return to China in 1997.

The crisis was the outbreak of a protest movement against the attempt by the government of President Kari Lam to pass a controversial bill approving extradition to China.

Under pressure from protests and the political crisis, Lam officially announced the withdrawal of the bill, but demonstrators continued their protests to demand other demands.