Beijing: Clashes with Hong Kong students by mainland Chinese studying in Australia are "reasonable" but Chinese students should abide by local laws, China's foreign ministry in Beijing has said.

Patriotic displays by mainland Chinese students including verbal and even physical attacks on Hong Kong democracy supporters have spread rapidly across Australia and Canada. The counter-protests coincide with a surge in propaganda from Chinese state outlets attacking Hong Kong democracy protesters.

Supporters of Hong Kong’s democracy protesters clash with pro-China groups in Melbourne.Credit:Justin McManus

Twitter overnight said it had shut down 936 mainland Chinese accounts for spreading disinformation, sowing political discord and undermining the Hong Kong protest movement in what the company believed is a coordinated attack by a "state-based actor".

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, when asked about counter-protests in Australia and Canada, said: "It is totally understandable and reasonable for Chinese students and other Chinese citizens overseas to express indignation and opposition against such words and deeds that attempt to separate China and smear its image."

But he added that "we hope overseas Chinese can express their patriotism in a rational way and protect themselves from harm".

Chinese students in Australia – in many cases – read about the Hong Kong protests from official Chinese state media outlets or Chinese social media, which is not only heavily censored to toe Beijing's line but has also been dominated by disinformation on Hong Kong similar to that which Twitter and Facebook are now trying to cull.

The aggressive attacks on Hong Kong protesters in Chinese state media continue even as democracy protesters returned to peaceful marches at the weekend.

Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam said on Tuesday morning that Sunday's protest had been "largely peaceful". In a press conference she said she wanted to reach out to the community and would set up a "dialogue platform".

Lam said a special task force within the Independent Police Complaints Council may be expanded, and it was seeking help from overseas experts including British police who had investigated the 2011 Tottenham riots.

Lam said the IPCC taskforce is on a fact-finding mission to not only examine complaints about police behaviour but also the causes of the protests and would deliver recommendations to the government.

The protesters have instead demanded a completely independent commission of inquiry into police behaviour headed by a judge.

The chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Council, Anthony Neoh, told The South China Morning Post the crisis in Hong Kong needs a political solution and he agreed that the protester's demand for a formal withdrawal of the extradition bill was reasonable.

Lam said a third of complaints received by the taskforce were about the July attacks by alleged triad members on residents at Yuen Long on July 21.

As tensions appeared to lower in Hong Kong, China's state news agency Xinhua on Tuesday continued to attack prominent Hong Kong democracy figures as a "Gang of Four", a comparison to the treasonous group led by Mao's wife, which was blamed for China's bloody Cultural Revolution. The shrill attacks list Hong Kong veteran democracy campaigner Martin Lee, former Hong Kong chief secretary Anson Chan, media tycoon Jimmy Lai and another democracy campaigner Albert Ho as the Gang of Four.

As Hong Kong's police oversight body contacts overseas police forces for advice on how to handle complaints, Beijing continues to condemn western government's for "interfering" in Hong Kong.

Twitter has said it will no longer accept advertising from state-controlled news entities, after Chinese news outlets including The Global Times paid to promote their reports about the Hong Kong protests within users' feeds.

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