The 900 detained anti-World Trade Organization demonstrators will be dealt with according to relevant laws of the territory, Hong Kong Police said yesterday.
Many were protesting the agricultural policies and subsidies of Western countries that harm developing countries.
Alred Ma Wai-luk, chief superintendent of the Hong Kong Police's Public Relations Branch, told a press briefing that detained demonstrators, who attacked police on Saturday, include South Koreans, people from China's Taiwan and a small number of Hong Kong citizens. He spoke on the sidelines of the Sixth Ministerial Conference of the WTO.
He said 97 people were reported injured during the violence, including 39 policemen. Four are still in hospital.
Ma said the police would facilitate peaceful demonstrations while taking proper measures to control the situation.
He said water and food were provided to the demonstrators when they were surrounded by police on Saturday.
After rounding 900 protesters, police began to take them away.
The demonstrators, mainly South Korean farmers, were detained in Kowloon.
Police turned water hoses on the crowds attacking them with sharp objects and snatching their protective shields.
As the violence escalated, police had to use pepper-powder and smoke grenades.
Citing the disturbances, police urged the public to avoid public meetings and processions for their own safety.
Yesterday was the last day of the six-day MC6 session; previous WTO ministerial meetings of the WTO also were the targets of violent protests.
In November 1999, at least 40,000 people demonstrated on the first day of a WTO ministerial conference in Seattle,  the United States. Protesters say the WTO helps the Western world and is biased against developing nations.
The demonstrators set fires, broke store windows and spray-painted walls and police cars with anti-WTO graffiti. As a result, a state of civil emergency was declared and a curfew was imposed in downtown areas of the city.
During the Cancun Ministerial Conference in September 2003, about 2,500 protesters clashed with police.
(Xinhua)