Hong Kong police make arrests following protest violence

Police in Hong Kong announced the arrests early on Saturday, saying eight of those detained are thought to have ties to the city's notorious organized crime gangs. The earlier clashes left at least 12 people and six officers injured, district commander Kwok Pak-chung said.

Police fought for hours to stop the violence as the attackers pushed and yelled at protesters. Kwok said the arrested attackers face charges of unlawful assembly, fighting in public and assault.

Anger over police response

Student protesters leading the demonstrations on Friday called off planned talks with the government over its inability to curb the attacks, which began on Friday afternoon in working-class Mong Kok, across Victoria Harbor from the activists' main camp.

"There is no other option but to call off the talks," the Hong Kong Federation of Students said in a statement. "Everybody saw what happened today. The government and police turned a blind eye to violent acts by the triads targeting peaceful Occupy protesters."

Hong Kong's Beijing-backed political leader, chief executive Leung Chun-ying, offered talks with the protesters in a televised address on Thursday evening, with the students initially accepting the invitation.

Rights group Amnesty International slammed Hong Kong police for their conduct during the violence, saying they "stood by and did nothing" to protect protesters.

Police on Saturday denied working together with the attackers. Senior superintendent Kong Man-keung told reporters officers had "deployed a lot of manpower to control the situation."

Calls to 'disperse'

The clashes prompted Leung to appeal for calm and for protesters to return home.

"We should not use violence or disrupt social order in any situation," he said. "All people gathering in those areas should disperse as soon as possible and restore social order, so that daily lives will be restored to normal."

Hong Kong's protesters are lobbying for fewer restrictions on the next elections in 2017, set to be the first with universal suffrage, a key part of the "one country, two systems" approach agreed when former colonial power Britain relinquished control of the financial hub. However, Beijing's plans to vet any would-be candidates for the job currently held by Leung have prompted protesters to call the upcoming vote "fake democracy."

dr/jm (AP, AFP, dpa)