Hundreds arrested in Hong Kong on New Year's Day, among them a 12-year-old

Hong Kong police have arrested about 400 citizens in protests on New Year's Day, after the one that started as a peaceful pro-democratic march ended up in a chaotic situation with police using tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Jimmy Shamm, one of the leaders of the Human Civil Rights Front, organising this march, criticised the police's decision to disperse the crowd, as he said there has been no long time for protesters to leave on their own.

Police announced on Thursday that they have arrested 420 people during the New Year's festival, 287 of them for involvement in illegal meetings, including a 12-year-old one, Reuters writes.

Organisers indicated that over 1 million people had participated in the protest, but police said there were up to 60 thousand of them.

Over the course of several months, protests have been able to turn into major movements for full democracy in the Chinese city and independent research into complaints about police brutality, Perscope follows.

Police, however, say they operate on restrictions and restraint.