Riot police used batons and pepper spray early Tuesday to disperse crowds from clashes that erupted when authorities tried to move illegal street vendors from a working-class district.

It was the worst street violence since pro-democracy protests in late 2014.

Protesters hurled bricks at police as scuffles broke out, while other demonstrators set fire to garbage bins in the streets of Mong Kok, a gritty neighborhood just across the harbor from the heart of the Asian financial center.