HK expats show solidarity in Sydney

Sydney's Hong Kong student expat community has joined the pro-democracy protests sweeping their homeland, staging solidarity actions across Sydney.

A small band of activists rallied outside the Chinese consulate in Camperdown on Wednesday, chanting support for Hong Kong demonstrators and decrying police brutality during the largely peaceful sit-ins.

Sydneysider Jay Ng said the reports of police violence had galvanised expat students into showing their support.

"We have friends and families attending the rallies and they have been attacked by police, and have struggled to stay on the streets all day and all night," she said.

"They are just unarmed students, they just want democracy."

Since Friday, Hong Kong's CBD has been rocked by the Occupy Central protests or the "the umbrella revolution", so named because protesters' use umbrellas as shields against tear gas and pepper spray as they fight for electoral reform.

The symbols of an umbrella and a yellow ribbon have also been adopted by the expat community in Sydney, who organised a snap action on the weekend.

Hundreds of notes bearing messages of support and defiance were pasted onto the brick exterior of Hong Kong House, - the Hong Kong government's offices in Sydney's CBD.

Yellow ribbons were tied to railings on the footpath.

Messages read, "Hong Kong for Hong Kongers - Beijing Get Lost" and "If not us, who? If not now, when?"

Protesters have called on the Hong Kong leader, Leung Chun- Ying, also known as CY Leung, to resign as Beijing clamps down on elections in the semi-autonomous region.

In Sydney, demonstrators bore signs reading "CYL is a puppet leader- step down now!" and notes tacked to the wall carried the numbers "689" a reference to the number of votes by which CY Leung came to power.

One of the organisers of the wall display, Sharon Cheong said that expats felt a need to show their support from afar.

"We want to tell the Hong Kong people they're not alone. Even though we're so far away, we want them to know we're supporting them," she told AAP.