Hong Kong’s anti-government protesters on Thursday ended a third straight day of Christmas demonstrations and confrontations with police that led to more than 310 arrests in total, but vowed to return to the streets in force for a mass rally on January 1 to ring in the new year.

The government issued three sharply worded statements over a 24-hour period to reject accusations by Western media and activist groups of “police brutality” and “state repression”, after tear gas and pepper spray were used over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day to disperse protesters as radicals resorted to violence and vandalism during chaotic “shopping” rallies at malls across the city.