Hundreds of people took to streets for an anti-government march in Hong Kong on Friday, a day after a female university student claimed to be a victim of police “sexual violence”.

The demonstrators, most of them were wearing masks in defiance of a new law banning them at public gatherings of more than 50 persons, spilt onto the tramway in Central, chanting slogans such as “Disbanding the police force brooks no delay” and “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong”, Efe news reported.

The statement from the force came on Thursday night after Chinese University vice-chancellor Rocky Tuan Sung-chi met students who demanded more support for classmates arrested in Hong Kong’s protest crisis and better security after riot police entered the campus last weekend.

The police issued a statement, saying it accorded “high priority” to the “serious allegation” made by Ng and asked her to “provide concrete evidence so that we can launch a fair fact-finding investigation as soon as possible.”

On Friday morning, Ng told Hong Kong’s Commercial Radio that she was considering legal action and that she has received threats since she spoke out.

On Thursday, Hong Kong’s number two official Matthew Cheung revealed that 750 of the 2,379 protesters arrested over the past four months were aged under 18, accounting for about a third of the total, while 104 were under 16.

Last week, Hong Kong’s entire mass transit rail system was suspended after a night of violence sparked by a ban on pro-democracy protesters wearing face masks, as the government imposed emergency powers not used in more than half a century.

The ban was imposed under emergency powers not used in more than half a century that aimed at quelling nearly four months of unrest but instead triggered mass protests and vows of defiance, with a 14-year-old boy reportedly shot and wounded.

Earlier in the month, Lam had introduced a ban on people wearing masks at public rallies, colonial-era emergency legislation that has not been used in more than half a century.

The controversial China extradition bill was withdrawn in early September but the movement has morphed into a wider campaign for greater democracy and against alleged police brutality.