The Chinese Communist Party said it would “perfect” the system for choosing the leader of Hong Kong after months of anti-government protests, as police in the ex-British colony fired water cannon to break up a Guy Fawkes-themed march.

The party said in a statement it would support its “special administrative region” of Hong Kong, which returned to China in 1997, and not tolerate any “separatist behaviour” either there or in neighboring Macau, an ex-Portuguese colony that was handed back to Chinese rule two years later.

Some protesters in Hong Kong, angry at perceived Chinese meddling in its freedoms, have called for independence in a sometimes violent unrest, a red line for Beijing. China denies interference. - Reuters