Hong Kong protests: Student dies after 'falling from car park' as demonstrators clashed with police

A university student has died after falling from a car park as police and protesters clashed in Hong Kong, authorities have said.

Chow Tsz-lok, an undergraduate at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, had died of injuries on Friday morning.

It comes after the 22-year-old fell from one floor of a car park to another during crowd dispersal at a demonstration last weekend, local police said.

His death is expected to spark fresh protests and fuel anger and resentment against the police, who are already under immense pressure amid accusations of excessive force as the city grapples with its worst political crisis in decades.

Students and young people have been at the forefront of the hundreds of thousands who have taken to the streets since June to press for greater democracy and rally against perceived Chinese meddling in the Asian financial hub.

The circumstances of how Mr Chow received his injuries were unclear but police said he was believed to have fallen from one floor to another in a parking lot during weekend crowd dispersal operations in a district east of the Kowloon peninsula.

Many demonstrators had thronged the hospital over this week to pray for Mr Chow and also staged rallies at universities across the former British colony.

The protests were ignited by a now-scrapped extradition bill for people to be sent to mainland China for trial.

They have evolved into wider calls for democracy, posing the biggest challenge for Chinese President Xi Jinping since he took charge in 2012.

Protesters have thrown petrol bombs and vandalised banks, stores and metro stations, while police have fired rubber bullets, tear gas, water cannon and, in some cases, live ammunition in scenes of chaos.

Notices circulated on social media said students planned a march on Friday at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Agencies contributed to this report