Wan Chai largely returned to peace yesterday after a night of the worst violence seen in decades.

Over 130 people including 61 police officers were injured during many hours of confrontation between police and rioting crowds demonstrating against the World Trade Organization (WTO). Police have arrested over 900 protestors.

Yesterday, Chief Executive Donald Tsang pledged to prosecute those protesters who had attacked the police and damaged public property after visiting officers guarding the WTO conference, where delegates worked around the clock for a deal to end farm subsidies and open markets to foreign competition.

South Korean farmers confronting the police in Saturday's riots were vehemently opposed to their country's delegates agreeing to open their domestic markets to foreign competition, fearing this would drive local farmers out of business.

"We have detained quite a few hundred people and we are going through them carefully to see if we have identified those with sufficient evidence," Tsang said, promising those without sufficient evidence would be released.

There were reports that a senior foreign ministry official from South Korea would arrive in Hong Kong today to liaise over the fate of the Korean farmers arrested by the police. He will reportedly request Hong Kong to treat them leniently.

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

He said many shops in Wan Chai and Causeway suffered business losses, and promised vigorous efforts would be made by tourism authorities to bring local activities back to normal. Tsang, however, ruled out compensating the shops.

Early yesterday, three men were still in hospital, including a Korean who remained in serious condition. Official figures showed at least 135 people 119 men and 16 women were injured, including 61 police.

Among those arrested include 730 men and 180 women, of whom a large numbers were Koreans. There were also demonstrators from Taiwan, Indonesia and Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, 5,000 protestors ignored the government's appeal for calm and pressed ahead with a rally in Victoria Park. They marched through the shopping districts in Causeway Bay and Wan Chai in the afternoon, before standing off with the police along the waterfront off the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), where the conference was held.

Hundreds of Korean protestors held out on the waterfront last night, condemning the deal reached by delegates inside the HKCEC. They also demanded the police release their fellow nationals.

Buzzing streets were usually quiet yesterday. Around noon, the shutters of most shops in the area remained shut. The few which were open were prepared to shut down should the situation flare up again.

While many agreed with the police tactics to keep the use of force to the minimum even though it would lead to slower dispersal of the protesters, a member of the Korean group criticized the police for handcuffing his fellow nationals. "When our protesters resisted the handcuffs, Hong Kong police beat them," the member said.

(China Daily December 19, 2005)