Villagers armed with metal bars, machetes and petrol bombs clashed with police yesterday over plans to demolish their homes.
Fourteen people - eight of them police - were injured when the violence erupted in Shek Wu San Tsuen, Sheung Shui, as bulldozers tried to move in to clear the village for redevelopment.
Some of the 300 riot police fired tear-gas canisters and pepper spray as they fought about 25 protesting villagers, who were demanding more compensation and better alternative housing to make way for an anti-flood project.
At one point a man held a cigarette lighter to a full gas canister and threatened to blow himself up.
Bulldozers moved in after police cleared the site, following a confrontation that lasted most of the day.
The trouble began after Housing Department workers tried to evict the village's last nine families and eight shops at 9am.
Villagers blocked a bridge over the River Indus, a subsidiary of the Ng Tung River, where the second phase of a $500 million anti-flooding project is due to start.