A mob of angry masked men steamed into Hong Kong’s dwindling yet still disruptive Occupy protests yesterday, tearing down barricades and clashing with police.

The local residents’ response to the protracted protests — a three-week campaign for greater democratic reforms and a loosening of ties with Beijing — came after police conducted a series of dawn raids to reopen some key roads blocked by the increasingly unpopular demonstration.

Occupy members were rebuilding their barriers yesterday after about two dozen men wearing surgical masks to hide their faces tore at the metal barricades that demonstrators had put in place.

The men, who used box cutters to snap the cable ties connecting the barricades, scuffled with protesters and police who tried to stop them.

An angry crowd of several hundred people then descended on the scene, rushing up to the barricades and attempting to storm the protest zone.

They punched their fists in the air and chanted: “Open the road!”

Taxi drivers joined in, driving their cabs up to the barricades and leaning on their horns to express their anger over the traffic disruptions. They’ve given Occupy until tomorrow night to unblock the roads.

Police took away some masked men from inside the protest zone who remained after most of the angry attackers had dispersed to pick fights with the Occupy activists.

Police said they’d arrested three men on suspicion of assault and carrying weapons, but didn’t say which side they were from.

The earlier police operation chipping away at sites and reopening roads to traffic removing obstacles at 27 locations, police said.

The only reports of opposition to the dawn clear-up was on Mong Kok Road, which police Chief Superintendent Steve Hui described as a “high-risk area” where “troublemakers” were liable to gather.

Hong Kong residents are increasingly complaining that the protests are affecting their lives.

About 40 representatives of the Construction Industry Employees General Union visited protesters at the main camp in the Admiralty area to try to persuade them to stop their action.

Lan Kwai Fong Holdings chairman Allan Zeman said restaurants were being forced to close early so that staff could get home amid heavy traffic.