Hong Kong police deny ‘working with gangs’ to target protestors

Friction between pro-democracy protesters and opponents of their week-long occupation of major Hong Kong streets persisted today as police denied any connection to criminal gangs suspected of inciting attacks on the largely peaceful demonstrators.

Police arrested 19 people during a night of running brawls in which at least 12 people and six officers were injured. Eight men were believed to have backgrounds linked to triads, or organised crime, said Senior Superintendent Patrick Kwok Pak-chung.

Officials vehemently denied rumours they might have co-ordinated with the gangs to clear the streets.

“Such rumours linking us to ‘black societies,‘ are utterly unfair,” said Hong Kong’s security chief, Lai Tung-kwok.

The confrontations, mostly in Mong Kok district, led protest leaders to call off planned talks with the government on political reforms.

With the talks suspended, the next steps in the crisis were uncertain. Police have repeatedly urged protesters and their opponents to clear the streets for the sake of public order, but have shown toleration after the earlier attempt to disperse the protesters just drew more people into the streets.

The standoff in Mong Kok, across Victoria Harbour from the activists' main protest encampment, continued after a tense night when hundreds of supporters of the protesters gathered to protect them.

Kwok said those arrested were facing charges of unlawful assembly, fighting in public and assault.

The opponents of the demonstrations are using blue ribbons to signal their support for the mainland Chinese government, while the protesters are wearing yellow ribbons. Some of those belonging to the "blue ribbon" side staged a rally in Kowloon's waterfront Tsim Sha Tsui.

Earlier, the Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the groups leading the demonstrations, said they saw no choice but to cancel the dialogue they had agreed to after Leung proposed talks. They demanded the government hold someone responsible for the scuffles yesterday, the worst disturbances since police used tear gas and pepper spray to try to disperse the protesters last weekend.

The protesters have been in the streets since September 26, pledging to preserve Hong Kong’s Western-style legal system and civil liberties. They want the Chinese government to reverse a decision requiring all candidates in the first election for Hong Kong’s leader in 2017 to be approved by a mostly pro-Beijing committee. The demonstrators want open nominations.

AP