Protesters have said they are calling off talks with the government after clashes with hundreds of supporters of Chinese rule in Hong Kong.
Police were forced to appeal to protesters to remain calm and return to their homes after tensions between the two groups boiled over.
Hundreds of pro-Beijing supporters had ripped up banners, destroyed tents and thrown water bottles at the pro-democracy protesters in Mong Kok.
Protest leaders urged their supporters to leave the Mong Kok area for their own safety but hundreds ignored the plea and descended on the area to outnumber the counter-protesters.
Officers formed a human chain to keep the two groups apart, with some pro-democracy protesters reportedly throwing objects as some members of the pro-China group were led away by bus.
It was unclear whether the pro-China protesters were an organised group but they were said to be visibly older than pro-democracy group and yelled, shoved and tried to drag the younger protesters away. Many shouted their anger that the protesters were preventing them from going to work and earning a living.
"Give us Mong Kok back, we Hong Kongers need to eat!" one man shouted as he attempted to remove the barricades.
One young female protester said: "We're sorry for the inconvenient cause but we hope you can show consideration."
She said she was determined to stay, adding: "Yes I do (have safety worries) but I don't have other choice."
A woman on the other side said: "My father lives here and I come here to buy things but the shops are closed and the roads are closed and everybody cannot go to work. I completely respect their rights to express their views but I just think Hong Kong is not such a place where you have to occupy roads or create such a tension between people to express their views."
The scuffles were the most chaotic since police used tear gas and pepper spray last weekend to try to disperse protesters pushing for greater electoral reforms for the territory.
In Causeway Bay, another area under student occupation, groups of young men in face masks were forced away from the protesters by police.
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Gallery: Hong Kong Clashes As Sit-In Drags On
Pro-democracy protesters gather outside the government offices in Hong Kong
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The umbrella has become a symbol of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement
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An anti-protester shouts at pro-democracy demonstrators in an occupied area of Hong Kong
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Pro-democracy campaigners, mainly students, stand firm
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Many of the anti-protesters are angry they have not been able to go to work during the protests
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Police officers try to get a man to let go of a fence guarded by pro-democracy demonstrators
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The protests are about to enter their second week
Police spokesman Steve Hui appealed to the members of the public to "observe the laws of Hong Kong when they are expressing their views."
Protesters, who are mostly students, said that if authorities did not act to protect peaceful demonstrators, they would go back on an agreement to hold talks with the city government as proposed by Hong Kong's leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying.
Tens of thousands took to the streets of Hong Kong a week ago to demand democracy in the former British colony, the main issue being a free voting system to choose their new leader in 2017.
Numbers have recently dwindled, however, as people returned to work following a two-day holiday.
Leung Chun-ying agreed to open talks with pro-democracy protesters on Thursday but has refused the give in to their demands that he resign.
Police had warned protesters of serious consequences if they try to block off government buildings and were pictured unloading of what appeared to be tear gas canisters and rubber bullets on Thursday.
After the clashes on Friday, the protesters said they would not meet Mr Leung unless the "organised attacks" on their sit-in are stopped.
The protests are the biggest challenge to China's authority since Britain handed control of Hong Kong to Beijing in 1997.
While Leung may have made a concession in offering talks with the students, he gave no timeframe for when these might take place.
Meanwhile, Beijing has signalled its opposition to the protests with a front-page commentary in the country's official People's Daily.
"For a few consecutive days, some people have been making trouble in Hong Kong, stirring up illegal assemblies in the name of seeking 'real universal suffrage'."
"Such acts have outrightly violated the Basic Law, Hong Kong's law, as well as the principle of the rule of law, and they are doomed to fail."
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