The Latest: Hong Kong police fire tear gas at protesters

HONG KONG (AP) — The Latest on protests in Hong Kong (all times local):

9:45 p.m.

Hong Kong police have fired tear gas at protesters after some of them vandalized a police station.

Police continuously fired several rounds of tear gas Saturday night to push back a group of protesters who had thrown bricks at a police station and spray-painted inflammatory language on its outer walls.

It was not immediately clear if protesters had also set something on fire, as two firetrucks appeared on the scene.

A rally earlier in the day in Hong Kong's Mong Kok area continued past its designated endpoint. Protesters, under a canopy of umbrellas, installed barricades on major roads and removed bricks from the pavement.

While the summer-long pro-democracy rallies have been largely peaceful, they have increasingly devolved into violent clashes with police after some protesters refused to disperse at assigned times.

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7:30 p.m.

Protesters have removed a Chinese national flag from a pole and flung it into Hong Kong's iconic Victoria Harbour.

After a pre-approved rally Saturday continued past its designated endpoint, demonstrators surged through a busy tourist area by the waterfront.

When they reached a set of flagpoles bearing the Hong Kong flag as well as the national flag of China, one protester climbed up the pole and removed the Chinese flag. After some debate over whether they had time to paint the flag black, they decided to throw it into the water before police could intervene.

The act is reminiscent of moves last month that infuriated the Communist Party-led central government. After one rally a few weeks earlier, some protesters went to the liaison office, which represents the mainland Chinese government, and threw black paint and eggs at the national emblem on the...