HONG KONG -- The government of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Wednesday refuted a statement by Britain-based Hong Kong Watch about the so-called "police brutality" on the Christmas Eve.

"There is nothing further from the truth in these false accusations and fabrications," a government spokesman said. "The police had adopted a measured and restrained approach throughout. Only minimum force was deployed in response to the blatant unlawful activities of the violent protesters on the Christmas Eve."

The spokesman stressed that rioters set fires, vandalized shops and the Mong Kok Branch of HSBC, blocked roads, destroyed 21 sets of traffic lights, brutally assaulted innocent members of the public, and attacked police officers.

These unlawful activities undeniably and greatly affected public peace and safety and therefore necessitated police enforcement actions, he said.

The spokesman described the remarks by Hong Kong Watch's chairman that "Hong Kong witnessed truly outrageous police brutality on the Christmas Eve" as "fake, utterly irresponsible and grossly unfair."

This kind of myth and malicious falsehoods must be debunked forthwith as they have painted an entirely wrong image of Hong Kong overseas, and Hong Kong strongly believes in and strictly abides by the rule of law, the spokesman added.