Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang said Wednesday Hong Kong people respect demonstrations, but violent actions are not welcome and anyone hindering progress of WTO's Six Ministerial Conference (MC6) would not be tolerated.

Talking to reporters at the Government Office headquarters on Wednesday morning, Tsang said the police force had exercised great tolerance and deployed the minimum level of response to handle Tuesday's anti-globalization demonstration.

He said that as emotional demonstrators attempted to break the cordon to get close to the venue, police had the responsibility to stop them, adding it is understandable the minimum level of response had to be used to calm them down.

Tsang said he wished demonstrators would adopt a peaceful approach to express their views in future public processions.

However, soon after Donald Tsang made the remarks, hundreds of demonstrators from South Korea, the Philippines and some other countries marched to an area near the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, the venue of the MC6, and clashed with the police when they tried to cross the police cordon line.

During Tuesday's anti-globalization demonstration, a number of demonstrators went beyond the designated public activities area, once and again tried to ram through the police cordon. The police officers on spot assessed the overall situation and deemed it necessary to contain the situation by using the minimum degree of force.

A total of five persons, two police officers and three demonstrators, sustained injuries during the demonstration. They were all sent to hospital for medical treatment. Except one demonstrator, all were treated and discharged later. No person was arrested in the incident.

Source: Xinhua