Police arrest two men for assault following protest
Updated at 5.52pm: Police on Friday morning arrested two men, aged 25 and 27, outside the Central Government Offices for assaulting police officers. The arrests followed a pro-democracy protest on Thursday night which led to scuffles between police and protesters.
The men were arrested about 7am on Friday morning after striking police officers during an operation to remove a group of about 90 protesters gathered outside the Central Government Offices.
'Police were not notified beforehand about the staging of the public meeting and had issued repeated warnings to the protesters asking them to leave but to no avail,' a police spokesman said.
'In order to maintain the normal operation of the Central Government Offices, police acted in accordance with the law and started to remove the group shortly before 7am but were met with resistance from some of the protesters.
'During the whole operation, police had exercised restraint and ensured the minimum use of force,' the spokesman added.
Five police officers and seven protesters suffered minor injuries and had been discharged from hospital after treatment.
The men were being detained for inquiries.
Police took action to drag away the demonstrators who had managed to get into the grounds of the government office complex.
They had camped outside the government offices in a protest against a forthcoming interpretation of the Basic Law by the National People's Congress Standing Committee.
