Hong Kong protesters gathered in the Causeway Bay commercial and shopping district on Wednesday (May 27) as the city’s lawmakers discuss the controversial bill that would make insulting China’s national anthem a criminal offence.

Footage filmed around 10 am outside Hysan Place shopping mall shows a large group of individuals who had exited the mall, corralled against the outside wall and made to sit down by riot police.

As protesters attempted to chant slogans and to take to the streets in Causeway Bay, riot police coralled about 50-odd individuals, among which people exiting a mall, while threatening journalists and other people with pepper spray.

After riot police swooped in and locked in a group of people comprised of protesters and people exiting a mall, a group was kept in detention, mainly younger individuals. Police later announced having arrested around 180 people between Central and Causeway Bay.