3 October 2014 Last updated at 17:25 ET
The situation in parts of Hong Kong is very tense, as Martin Patience reports
Leaders of a pro-democracy student group in Hong Kong have postponed talks with the government after demonstrators got into scuffles with opponents.
The group said the authorities were failing to protect protesters.
Police denied colluding with those who used violence against the protesters, and said they had arrested members of the triad criminal gangs.
Activists are protesting at plans by China to vet election candidates and have been occupying parts of the city.
Hong Kong’s leader on Thursday offered talks to defuse the situation after the protesters called for his resignation.
But scuffles broke out as people apparently angry with the disruption caused by the protests tried to dismantle tents and barricades.
‘Broken promise’
The Hong Kong Federation of Students, which was invited to negotiations with the government, said in a statement it had “shelved” the talks. A time and place for the negotiations had never been confirmed.
“The government allowed the mafia to attack peaceful Occupy participants. It has cut off the path to a dialogue, and should be responsible for the consequences,” it said.
“The government has not kept its promise. We have no choice but to shelve the talks.”
It was not clear whether the statement reflected the position of other groups involved in the protest.
Occupy Central leader Benny Tai told the BBC they were still only considering a boycott of the talks. However, he said police were not protecting the demonstrators against attacks by their opponents and this situation could not continue.
“At this point it’s very, very difficult to maintain any sense of dialogue if the government does not stop these things happening to peaceful protesters,” he said.
There was no immediate response from the government to the postponement.
But in a late-night news conference, reported by the South China Morning Post newspaper, police gave their account of events.
They denied accusations by the protesters that they had acted in concert with forces trying to break up the protest.
They said 19 people had been arrested, eight of whom had “triad backgrounds”, referring to local criminal gangs.
