A South Korean protester is taken away by police in Hong Kong Saturday. Protesters took over a downtown street after breaking through a police line during demonstrations against the World Trade Organization, which was meeting in the city.(Photo: Kin Cheung/Source: Shanghai Daily)

Wan Chai largely returned to normal yesterday following a night of the worst violence Hong Kong has seen in decades.

Over 130 people - including 61 police officers - were injured during several hours of violent clashes between police and rioting crowds demonstrating against the World Trade Organization (WTO). Over 900 protesters were arrested.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang pledged that protesters who attacked the police and damaged public property would be prosecuted. He made the comments yesterday after visiting officers guarding the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC).

The South Korean farmers that confronted police in Saturday's riots were vehemently opposed to the opening of their domestic market to foreign competition, fearing it would deprive them of their livelihoods.

"We have detained a few hundred people and we are going through them carefully to see if we have sufficient evidence," Tsang said, promising that detainees would be released if the authorities lacked proof that they had committed a crime.

Reports suggested that a senior foreign ministry official from South Korea would arrive in Hong Kong today to negotiate the fate of South Korean farmers arrested by the police.

Tsang praised the police for acting professionally and using minimal force to bring the situation under control, and said the number of injuries was small in relation to the size of the rioting crowds. Tsang said this showed the police had exercised extreme tolerance.

He said many shops in Wan Chai and Causeway Bay lost business, and promised effort would be made with tourism authorities to bring the situation back to normal. Tsang ruled out the possibility of compensating businesses in the area, however.

Three men were still in hospital early today, including a South Korean who remained in critical condition. Official figures showed at least 135 people - 119 men and 16 women - were injured, including 61 police officers.

May of those arrested were South Koreans, including 730 men and 180 women. There were also demonstrators from Taiwan, Indonesia and Hong Kong.

Approximately 5,000 protesters ignored the government's appeal for calm and pressed ahead with a rally in Victoria Park. They marched through shopping districts in Causeway Bay and Wan Chai in the afternoon, before facing police at the waterfront near the HKCEC.

Hundreds of South Korean protesters remained at the waterfront last night. They demanded that police release their fellow nationals.

Busy streets in the area were unusually quiet yesterday. By noon, shutters were still down at most shops, except for a handful, particularly along Gloucester Road and the waterfront, where the worst clashes took place. The few that opened were prepared to shut down again if violence flared up again.

Scores of police in full riot gear fired tear gas to disperse rioting crowds breaking through barriers in an attempt to enter the HKCEC. Pepper spray and water cannons failed to discourage protesters earlier in the day.

At the height of the riots on Saturday night, Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee and Police Commissioner Dick Lee appeared on television to ask the public to avoid Wan Chai, as well as all major roads leading to the district. The Hong Kong-bound side of the Cross Harbour Tunnel was closed, and MTR trains did not stop at Wan Chai Station.

900 cornered, 188 released

Guided by a helicopter, police cornered about 900 protesters in the section of Gloucester Road near the Wan Chai Police Station.

Alfred Ma, chief superintendent of the Police Public Relations Branch, said ongoing communications between Commissioner Lee and the leadership of the Korean Peasants League were aimed at ending the standoff without further violence.

The arrests began at about 2:30 am. South Korean farmers and union activists were marched 15 at a time by riot police onto waiting buses, handcuffed by plastic strips. It took almost 12 hours to remove the crowd from Gloucester Road.

Road closures extended what is normally a 10-minute journey between Chai Wan and Causeway Bay to more than 40 minutes.

Police released 188 of the protesters last night, including 150 South Korean women. A police spokesman said they were still pressing ahead with investigations into the remaining detainees, adding that local police were in close contact with the South Korea consulate.

Many local community leaders threw their weight behind the police yesterday, praising them for bringing the situation under control.

Ma Lik, chairman of the city's biggest political party, the Democratic Alliance for Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said the police were well prepared for the violent confrontation.

"It's important to take decisive action to restore social order. Although it has inconvenienced the public, I believe most people are on the side of the police," Ma said in a public function in Siu Sai Wan.

He agreed that force needed to be kept to a minimum, even if it led to slower dispersal of the protesters.

A member of the South Korean group, however, criticized police for handcuffing his fellow nationals.