Hong Kong, Oct. 19 -- Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters donned cartoon character masks and mocked China's leaders while forming human chains in defiance of a ban on face coverings at public assemblies.

Gathering along the city's subway lines Friday night, many protest supporters masqueraded as Winnie the Pooh or Guy Fawkes. They help up their phone lights and chanted slogans calling for a "revolution of our times" - a battle cry of the 5-month-long movement that has shaken the semi-autonomous Chinese city with violent confrontations between protesters and police.

Chinese internet users have joked that Chinese President Xi Jinping resembles the talking bear, leading the country's censors to scrub online references to the character. Fawk...