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After a flare-up of violence between Hong Kong police and pro-democracy demonstrators Saturday, government officials and protest leaders alike warned that the situation was heading toward a breaking point.

Demonstrators remained encamped around government headquarters in the Admiralty district and had reoccupied streets in the dense commercial Mong Kok area. Police had cleared the Mong Kok sit-in early Friday, but demonstrators returned later in the day and took back control of several key streets, clashing with officers throughout the night.

Speaking out after 26 people were arrested and dozens injured in Mong Kok early Saturday, Hong Kong Police Commissioner Andy Tsang Wai-hung said police had been "extremely tolerant" and that protesters' increasingly "illegal acts are undermining the rule of law."

"These violations are ... destroying Hong Kong," he said, adding that schools, businesses and hospitals had been disrupted. If police fail to "uphold the law ... who is there to benefit? What is there to gain?" Tsang said. If police fail to carry out their duties, he added, the entire society would suffer.

Tensions seemed to ease a bit by late Saturday. In Admiralty, the police presence was minimal and more and more tents had sprung up, giving the encampment a rooted feel. Some tents have even adopted improvised addresses such as Umbrella Square Tent 30 or Fighting Lodge No. 1.

In Mong Kok, where a few thousand demonstrators were massed, about 70 officers were on duty, some carrying batons. Demonstrators jeered at counter-protesters, shouting profanities and urging them to go back to the Mainland, a suggestion that they were doing Beijings bidding.

We need to occupy here to have more bargaining power in future dialogue with the government," said Paula Wong, who was at Mong Kok on Saturday evening. "I saw pictures about reclaiming the protest area in Mong Kok and I knew I needed to come; the more people [who are] here, the safer we are."

Government representatives and leaders of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the lead protest groups, are scheduled to meet Tuesday for a first round of dialogue. Exactly what the talks will cover remains unclear.

Protesters have been agitating for Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to resign and for the reversal of a decision by the standing committee of China's National People's Congress to limit candidates to his post in the city's 2017 election. But Leung has rejected both demands.

"Hong Kong people have been waiting for democracy for more than 10 years, but the situation is just getting worse and worse," said a 22-year-old student surnamed Lin who was in Mong Kok on Saturday afternoon. Now Beijing wants us to accept a false election, I don't think we can take it any more.

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Both sides in Hong Kong warn of crisis as clashes continue