Hong Kong police on Sunday said that they had arrested 115 people after a night of chaos that marked the first major outbreak of anti-government protest violence since the start of the coronavirus crisis in the city.

Seventy-one men and 44 women, aged 15 to 54, were detained on suspicion of taking part in unauthorised assemblies, possession of offensive weapons and instruments fit for an unlawful purpose, arson, attacking police officers and obstructing them in the execution of their duties, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported.

The incident in Mong Kok took place after about 100 protesters gathered to block Nathan Road, marking six months since major clashes on August 31, 2019.

The crowd grew in size later into the night.

Protesters threw bricks, stones, bamboo sticks and other hard objects at an officer, who pulled out his gun as he believed his life was in danger, police said.

In the early hours of Friday, police arrested Apple Daily founder and media mogul Jimmy Lai for illegal assembly and intimidating a reporter using foul language during anti-government protests in the city.

Last week, a popular slogan of Hong Kong’s months-long anti-government protests was spray-painted on the wall outside one of the Chinese Army’s bases in the city.

The eight words in Chinese – “Liberate Hong Kong; Revolution of our times” – were found daubed on the external walls of Gun Club Hill Barracks.

The 11-hectare military site is one of the barracks occupied by China’s People’s Liberation Army since the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong from Britain on July 1, 1997.

Demonstrations in Hong Kong began in June following a controversial extradition bill, already withdrawn by the government, but have mutated into a movement seeking to improve Hong Kong’s democratic mechanisms and safeguard the region’s partial autonomy from Beijing.

Hong Kong’s protests are largely leaderless and organised online. They were initially sparked by a now-abandoned attempt to allow extraditions to the mainland but have since morphed into a popular revolt against Beijing’s rule.

In 2018, the Hong Kong government had disqualified the candidacy of another pro-democracy activist, Agnes Chow, for the Legislative Council by-election in March of the same year due to her stance on advocating self-determination for the former British colony.

The controversial China extradition bill was withdrawn in early September but the movement has morphed into a wider campaign for greater democracy and against alleged police brutality.