CHANDRA WONG, CHEUNG CHI-FAI and BENJAMIN WONG

Eleven of 14 protesters charged over violent anti-WTO demonstrations walked free yesterday amid cheers from families and supporters after prosecutors said they did not have evidence to justify the charges against them.

The dropping of the charges came 23 days into the legal proceedings and two days after Secretary for Justice Wong Yan-lung met visiting Korean MPs.

A police spokesman insisted the decision was not a result of political pressure but legislators said the timing left the government open to such accusations.

Two Koreans remain charged with unlawful assembly and a third has now been charged with unauthorised assembly. They will face trial in March.

The development came as the 14 - 11 Koreans aged 31 to 46, a 29-year-old Japanese, a 41-year-old mainlander and a 22-year-old Taiwanese student - faced Principal Magistrate Garry Tallentire in Kwun Tong Court for the fourth time since being arrested after the December 17 riot in Wan Chai during the World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting.

A statement by Director of Public Prosecutions Grenville Cross, read to the court, said that after studying evidence including witness statements, video recordings and photographs, it was "concluded that the evidence did not suffice to justify the continuation of the prosecution" against 12 defendants charged with unlawful assembly.

The charge against one of the 12, union leader Yang Kyung-kyu, 46, was changed to unauthorised assembly. Park Inh-wan, 31, and Yun Ilk-wan, 36, remain charged with unlawful assembly.

The three were granted $30,000 cash bail and allowed to leave Hong Kong pending a five-day trial at Fanling Court.

They denied the charges, which carry a maximum penalty of three years' jail.

Chief Superintendent Alfred Ma Wai-luk, head of the Police Public Relations Branch, said the decision to drop the charges was not a result of political pressure, despite the meeting between Mr Wong and the Korean members of parliament.

"We respect the decision of the secretary for justice and believe the government's decision was an independent one based on firstly, public interest and secondly, a review of the strength of the presented evidence."

Kwon Young-ghil, the interim president of South Korea's Democratic Labour Party, described the pressing of charges against protesters as "political violence".

"No matter where you are, the law should be applied in a just manner. But since they don't have the evidence, insisting on pressing charges against the trio is political violence against us," he said.

The protesters were welcomed by applause and cheers from a crowd of family members and supporters, including Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun and legislator "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung.

The not-guilty pleas were entered after a disagreement over the police statement of facts, which said Yun had "thrown mud at police" and "hit police with a piece of wood".

"As we want the court trial to go smoothly, we had made some compromise and admitted the charges," Yang said outside the court. "But contrary to our expectations, the prosecutors kept trying to make us `rioters' in the court. That's why we changed our mind."

Police had done the best they could in presenting the case and the decision to drop the charges should not be seen as a criticism of the police's work, Mr Ma said.

"At the time we definitely had enough grounds to make the arrest, otherwise the arrest would have been ruled unlawful."