Electoral reform activists blockading Hong Kong’s government district called off talks with the government yesterday, blaming authorities for not protecting them during confrontations with angry local residents.

Scuffles broke out yesterday in Kowloon’s crowded Mong Kok district as residents and shopowners confronted barricades erected by the activists.

Students and others linked arms as they tried to stand their ground against the crowd, while police formed cordons and escorted some of the protesters away to chants of “pack up” and “go home.”

Police were hard-pressed to keep order as the two sides tussled. Some people emerged bloodied from the fracas.

The protesters said that if authorities did not act to protect unarmed, peaceful demonstrators, they would block talks which have been proposed by Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chunying.

“Stop the violence or we call off the talks,” the activist groups said in a statement.

Police spokesman Steve Hui appealed to the public to “observe the laws of Hong Kong when they are expressing their views.”

The protesters have remained in the streets since September 26 in the biggest challenge to Beijing’s authority since decolonisation in 1997.

They are pushing for the Chinese government to reverse the agreement made with Britain requiring a committee to approve candidates for chief executive elections in 2017.

Hong Kong Chief Secretary Carrie Lam said that she had begun organising the talks with the protesters, who have continued their sit-ins after Mr Leung rejected calls to resign.

“Sentiments are running high and there is a high chance of conflict on the streets,” she said.

“So I am urging protesters who have been occupying parts of the territory to consider retreating … so that the police can restore law and order.”

China’s government has been largely silent on the protests, but the People’s Daily published lengthy commentary on the protests yesterday.

The Communist Party newspaper accused a small group of protesters of trying to “hijack the system,” stressing that their effort was doomed to failure.

There is “no room for concessions” on the candidate screening issue, it said, noting that Hong Kong “is directly under the jurisdiction of the central government.

“It is not a country or an independent political entity.”