About a dozen protesters broke through the police cordon around the old Star ferry pier in Central last night demanding an immediate stop to the demolition of the site even after the government told the Legislative Council (LegCo) that it was too late to save the pier and its clock tower.

Some people started gathering outside the fenced-off pier site since early evening to hold a candlelight vigil, which began around 7 pm.

But around 9:15 pm, a group of protesters rushed towards the fence and clashed with the policemen. Some succeeded in breaking the cordon, and rushed into the site, carrying a banner and shouting slogans to stop the demolition.

At least five of the protesters climbed the upper deck of the pier and ripped off the tarpaulin covering the scaffolding in many places. They kept shouting slogans and demanded an emergency meeting with Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands Michael Suen.

Police used loudspeakers to ask them to leave the site. Though they ignored the warnings initially, they finally left peacefully after repeated police requests.

Earlier, Suen told the LegCo panel on planning, lands and works that preserving the old Star Ferry pier or relocating it was an unrealistic idea. The panel, however, passed a motion urging the government to stop the demolition, and convene a meeting of experts to resolve the issue.

The pier, used since 1957, is being demolished to create way for a six-lane Central-Wan Chai bypass and a low-rise shopping mall.

It's necessary to strike a balance between preserving old structures and urban development, Suen said. The best chance to amend the project was missed when no one objected to the demolition during the planning stage. It's too late now because contracts have been signed and demolition and work has already started.

"Components of the clock have already been removed. So the proposal of relocating the clock tower is unrealistic." But, Suen said, a replica of the clock tower will be built on the new Central waterfront.

It's possible to re-assemble the clock's chime, which unionist legislator Wong Kwok-hing said symbolized Hong Kong of the old days.

Though some parts of the clock are not in production, he said the manufacturer could make them especially for the city, and it could still chime, albeit on the new waterfront.

"We will explore that possibility. Re-assembling the chime is not an impossible task." The government has consulted LegCo and other concerned parties, he said, and is aware of the public demand to preserve Hong Kong's heritage but the site has to be demolished in greater interest of the people.

But social welfare sector legislator Fernando Cheung insisted that the pier should not be demolished. "It's meaningless to build a replica as the public won't feel the same attachment with it... The demolition will hurt public feeling," he said.

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong legislator Choy So-yuk, too, wanted the demolition to stop before a meeting of experts discussed the matter.

"There's no reason to rush through the demolition. It would be a huge loss if the experts found a way to preserve the pier and keep the reclamation project going," she said.

Hong Kong People's Council for Sustainable Development Chairman Albert Lai, too, felt the clock tower should be preserved on its original site. Lai, along with two experts, presented a proposal in which even though the pier had to be demolished for new roads, the clock tower could remain intact if the underground nullah to be built was shifted about 10 metres southward.

The roads to be constructed on the pier site would be aligned. Lai said it was normal for the government to issue a "variation order", asking the contractor to change some sequences and details of the project.

The government has to pay an extra HK$1 million perhaps less to the contractor, Lai said, and the completion date of the reclamation project would not be extended significantly.

In a related development, police chief Dick Lee said the force was considering whether to charge the protesters, removed from the construction site on Wednesday, with criminal offence.

Police removed 13 protesters, who had staged an overnight protest at the site, and arrested a woman for criminal damage on Wednesday. Lee said the policemen had used minimum force during the operation.