Hong Kong Protesters Breach the Inside of Parliament Building

Anti-government protesters stormed Hong Kong's parliament building late Monday after successfully smashing their way through reinforced glass windows and prising open metal shutters that were blocking their way.

The Protesters fixed a British colonial flag to the Hong Kong parliament podium after they broke into the government headquarters on the 22nd anniversary of the city's handover from Britain to China.

China two years ago announced that it considered the joint declaration, which laid the blueprint over how the city would be ruled after its return to China, was a historical document that no longer had any practical significance.

Britain no longer has any responsibility for Hong Kong and needs to stop "gesticulating" about its former colony, China's Foreign Ministry said on Monday, after the British government reiterated its commitment to the joint declaration with China on Hong Kong.

Britain says the declaration remains in force and is a legally valid treaty to which it is committed to upholding, a point repeated by British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Sunday.

Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that Britain's rights and obligations under the joint declaration had ended.