HONG KONG – A total of 80 people were arrested Tuesday in Hong Kong during a police operation in a street blocked by pro-democracy demonstrators for two months in the district of Mongkok, said local police.

The rebels were arrested for unlawful assembly and violation of a court order requiring the dismantling of barricades in the streets, said a spokesman for the police told AFP.

Police had initially announced 32 arrests, including that of pro-democracy MP Leung Kwok-hung. According to a pro-democracy advocate, a 14-year-old is among those arrested.

The arrests took place during a new barricade dismantling operation on one of the sites occupied by the pro-democracy protesters for more than eight weeks.

The clashes occurred when the police tried to disperse hundreds of protesters who refused to leave the premises as workers dismantled the barricades in Mongkok in the mainland of Hong Kong.

Mongkok is one of three camps occupied since September 28 in the former British colony came under Chinese rule, with those of Admiralty, near the seat of power and Causeway Bay, luxury shopping area popular with mainland Chinese .