A student and construction worker have pleaded guilty to a charge of rioting stemming from a confrontation between police and protesters at Polytechnic University during some of the worst violence of the anti-government movement in 2019.

Student Wong Ming-ho and construction worker Au Hoi-fung each entered a guilty plea at the District Court on Monday before eight other co-defendants went on trial over the same incident. Wong and Au were remanded in custody until sentencing in April.

Prosecutors charged the eight men and two women over their roles in the chaos that broke out less than 1km to the east of PolyU on the night of November 18, 2019.

What started as a citywide strike against police’s use of force during the anti-government protests that year descended into a week of street violence, chaos and traffic disruption, culminating in a fierce battle outside the campus in Hung Hom.

The court heard that thousands of protesters had assembled along a section of Nathan Road between Gascoigne Road and Jordan Road that night, in the hope of providing a window of escape for their comrades trapped inside the university.

During the riot that stretched across more than 90 minutes, black-clad protesters barricaded the thoroughfare with bricks, bamboo sticks and iron fences taken from the sides of the roads. Some also shone laser beams and hurled petrol bombs and bricks at officers who attempted to disperse the crowd with tear gas.

Police began arresting protesters at 10pm and stopped the 10 suspects in the vicinity.

Au, 23, was subdued after he tossed a firebomb towards the police cordon. Wong, 18, was wearing an all-black outfit and carrying a Guy Fawkes mask along with a pair of goggles when he was intercepted.

Prosecutors agreed to drop a separate count of possession of an instrument fit for unlawful purposes against Au for keeping 73 plastic zip ties, provided that he admitted the rioting charge.

The eight who pleaded not guilty to rioting were students Cheung Wing-sheung, 20, Lam Chin-ching, 25, and Liu Hong-leung, 22; company manager Lee Ping-lok, 62; merchant Auman Yick Chek-bong, 27; janitor Chu Wai-hung, 44; Li Ka-vi, 26, who was jobless; and Poon Wing-kit, 22, who refused to disclose his occupation.

Liu and Lee each pleaded not guilty to an additional count of possession of an offensive weapon over a hammer and laser pointer seized from their respective belongings.

The trial before judge Ernest Michael Lin Kam-hung is expected to last six weeks.

Riot is punishable by seven years in jail when the case is tried at the District Court.