Hong Kong residents have voted in record numbers for a bitterly contested legislative election, with a push for independence among a disaffected younger generation of candidates and voters stoking tension with China's Government.
Hong Kong's pro-democracy opposition is hoping to maintain a one-third veto bloc in the 70-seat legislative council in the face of better mobilised and funded pro-Beijing and pro-establishment rivals.
Voters flocked to cast ballots in huge numbers with some having to wait several hours after the close of polling to cast ballots at a few particularly congested polling stations.
"Hong Kong is really chaotic now. I want to do something to help," said 28-year-old Maicy Leung, who was in a snaking queue of several hundred. "It's to help the next generation and to help myself."
The former British colony was handed back to China in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" agreement that promised to maintain the global financial hub's freedoms and separate laws for at least 50 years, but gave ultimate control to Beijing.