Fury faded into disappointment among thousands of anti-WTO protesters in Hong Kong yesterday as the week ended with a deal inside the trade talks that satisfied no one, and mass detentions outside.

After a night of the fiercest violence Hong Kong has seen for decades, police rounded up more than 900 protesters - mostly Korean farmers - and brought armoured cars on to the streets outside the convention centre in a show of force aimed at deterring further attempts to breach their lines.

It proved unnecessary. A march by 5,000 to 7,000 protesters passed off peacefully. As has been the case for the entire week of protests, all the attention was on the Koreans, who have stirred up a mixture of resentment and grudging respect among locals for their aggression, determination and strategic nous. On Saturday night, this 1,000-strong group mounted repeated assaults on police lines, which they breached with steel bars, wooden poles and battering rams made from crowd barriers.

Security forces fought back with tear-gas, truncheons and high-pressure hoses. Hong Kong officials said 135 people, including 61 police, had been injured in the clashes. One Korean man remains in a critical condition. Hong Kong's chief executive, Donald Tsang, said those responsible for assaults on police would be prosecuted within 48 hours. José Bové, the fiery French farmer who was involved in the anti-WTO riots in Seattle six years ago, called on the authorities to release those being held. "They aren't terrorists or criminals. They are farmers and workers asking for rights," he said. "We're not allowed to talk to delegates about rice, about cotton, about anything. That's why we're so angry. That's why we resist globalisation.'

Many of the marchers yesterday held placards calling for the farmers to be freed. One group of about 20 local students began a hunger strike outside a detention centre, demanding the prisoners' release.

Yesterday's march , which included local migrant workers and prostitutes, was a colourful but low-key affair. The 100 or so Koreans in the crowd were downbeat over the summit's outcome. "We've no future," said Kim You-jong, whose arm was in a sling after the previous night's battle. "The WTO has ruined our lives."