Police have been called following a series of clashes between Hong Kong and Chinese students as universities are accused of failing to protect them.

Students across the UK have told The Sunday Telegraph how they have been threatened, intimidated, harassed and in some cases physically assaulted by their Chinese peers while staging pro-democracy protests.

It comes amid warnings that Chinese students from the mainland are being directed by the state to defend Communist China.

In one instance, a student from Hong Kong said that while she was printing out flyers for a rally she was attacked by a group of six Chinese students who pinned her up against the wall.

Hong Kong students at Sheffield and Liverpool universities said they are now too scared to go to lectures where there are a lot of Chinese students, following heated showdowns.

It comes as protests in Hong Kong spin into their fifth month, as anger continues to grow over what demonstrators see as escalating police brutality.

In Sheffield city centre, violent clashes last week saw a Hong Kong student being hit by a bottle and a 19-year-old arrested by police under suspicion of committing a public order offence. He was given a caution, while a 25-year-old student is being investigated by the university.