Chinese President Xi Jinping
Chinese President Xi JinpingIANS

Amid the ongoing protests in Hong Kong, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned the rioters of dire consequences including "crushed bodies and shattered bones" if there is an attempt to divide China.

Jinping made these comments during a state visit to Nepal on Sunday after his informal summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mahabalipuram in India on October 11 and 12. 

Several peaceful Hong Kong rallies descended into clashes between riot police and protesters on Sunday.

Several neighbourhoods saw rallies, and by Sunday afternoon at least 27 stations on the MTR - Hong Kong's metro - were closed. Public transport stations and shops deemed to be pro-Beijing were damaged.

Police said they had used "minimum force" to disperse protesters, but television footage showed weekend shoppers caught in the chaos.

Some were filmed screaming and apparently injured as officers rushed into a shopping centre.

Riot police with shields were forced out of one mall by chanting shoppers who took the side of the protesters.

Petrol bombs were thrown at Mong Kok police station, and one officer was slashed in the neck, authorities say. He is in a stable condition in hospital, the South China Morning Post reports.

A second man was allegedly beaten by protesters who found a baton in his bag and believed he was an undercover police officer.

Embedding police among the protesters have paid tactical dividends for the Hong Kong force and spread paranoia among the mostly young activists.

Overnight on Sunday, one group of protesters hauled a three-metre-high statue of a protester on to Lion Rock, a famous outcrop overlooking Hong Kong.

The statue, Lady Liberty, has become a symbol of the rallies and sports a gas mask, goggles, and a helmet.

She represents an injured protester who demonstrators believe was shot in the eye by a police projectile.

The group of several dozen, some wearing headlamps, climbed the 500-metre peak during a thunderstorm. The statue held a black banner that read: "Revolution of our time, Liberate Hong Kong."

Hong Kong's protests started in June against proposals to allow extradition to mainland China, a move many feared would undermine the city's judicial independence and endanger dissidents.

The bill has long been withdrawn, but protests have widened to include demands for full democracy and an inquiry into claims of police brutality.

Earlier this month, the city's government used a colonial-era emergency law to ban the wearing of face masks at public rallies - but demonstrators vowed to defy it.

More than 2,300 people have been arrested since the civil disobedience began.