Chanting crowd outside Prince Edward MTR warned

Police have arrested eight people as thousands gathered outside the Prince Edward MTR station tonight to mark one year since officers stormed the station in search of anti-government protesters.

Protesters leaving flowers and sporadically chanted pro-independence slogans as police kept a heavy presence at a station exit by the Mong Kok police station – where many stopped to leave flowers.

Officers warned they may be in breach of the national security law. People at the scene immediately scattered.

However, substantial crowds remained in the area, some yelling out and mocking officers who were patrolling the streets and ordering passersby and reporters to stay on the pedestrian walkway.

Many people were stopped and questioned throughout the evening, including a young boy who looked to be a pre-teen, who was bundled into a police van.

At one point, almost 20 mostly young people dressed in black – some clutching flowers – were stopped and questioned outside the Pioneer Shopping Centre before officers let them go.

During last year's police action at the MTR Station, riot police raced into the station during a night of anti-government protests, beating and pepper-spraying people they encountered on the platforms and inside a train. The polic ejected journalists from the site and delayed the arrival of paramedics sent to treat the injured.

The authorities have since been unable to dispel persistent rumors that officers killed people inside the station, despite there being no credible evidence that there were any fatalities.

A woman who had arrived with some white flowers didn’t want to give her name, but explained why she had come.

"Something really happened here a year ago," she said. "It is really heartbroken for everyone who love ... Hong Kong," she said. "So I decided to come, Nothing much I can do, right? Just this the only thing I can do," she said.

Another man, who also refused to share his name, said he’d taken a bus to get there – as he had boycotted the MTR.

He said he no longer trusted the police or the government. They stopped emergency workers from going there, he pointed out. "They are hiding something," he said.