The students, many in black shirts symbolising impaired human rights, shouted slogans as they paraded in a downtown district with police and government buildings.

They protested a law that requires police approval of public gatherings and demanded that demonstrators be allowed to stage protests as they wish. They said the current law gives police too much power to bar protests.

The group ignored police officers who held up signs ordering them to disperse for failing to obtain approval.

The students have been staging sit-ins for weeks to protest what they saw as heavy-handed police measures to limit protests during a Nov 3-7 visit by a mainland Chinese envoy, Chen Yunlin.

They have agreed to halt the protests after Sunday's demonstration because lawmakers said they would debate the issue in the Legislature.

Mr Chen, the highest Chinese official to visit Taiwan in nearly six decades, was dogged by protesters who viewed his trip as a Chinese attempt to put the self-governed island under its fold.

At one point, hundreds of protesters confronted police outside a restaurant where Chen was having dinner.

Thousands also demonstrated in downtown Taipei when President Ma Ying-jeou held a brief meeting with Chen. Many later tried to surround Chen at his hotel, an area off limits to protesters, prompting police to use water cannons and clubs to disperse the crowd. -- AP