HONG KONG: Hundreds of Hong Kong police on Wednesday (Nov 26) cleared a pro-democracy protest camp, arresting Joshua Wong and another student leader and reopening a main road blocked for almost two months.
Pushing back protesters, police with the help of workmen removed tents and other obstacles blocking the six-lane Nathan Road in Mongkok district.
It was seen as the most significant move so far in efforts to clear away protest camps at three separate locations in the city, as public sympathy with the demonstrators wanes.
Scuffles broke out earlier in the day as police wearing helmets and brandishing batons moved in to protect the workmen, when crowds surged forward to try to stop them tearing down road barricades. The operation went ahead a day after nearly 150 demonstrators were arrested as authorities cleared a smaller section of the Mongkok protest camp.
Hundreds of police quickly pushed protesters back, and removed wooden and metal barricades, tents and other obstructions along a 500-metre stretch of Nathan Road. Around two hours after the operation started, only a handful of protesters remained at the edge of the site.
The movement's student leaders Wong and Lester Shum were arrested at the scene, according to a group called Scholarism and the Hong Kong Federation of Students. A well-known protester, Raphael Wong, a member of the League of Social Democrats party who was arrested along with the pair said on his Facebook page that they were being held at a police station.
"I am at the Kwai Chung police station, next to me is Joshua and Lester, we have been charged with contempt of court and obstructing public officers," Wong wrote. "It is possible we won't get bail tonight and will be at a magistrates' court tomorrow." Police were unable to immediately give a reason why the three had been arrested when contacted by AFP.
Tensions were running high on Wednesday after scuffles the previous day when police used pepper spray on protesters at the site. Mongkok was the scene of some of the most violent clashes since the sit-ins began in the city on September 28.
"If we lose here, we won't lose heart. We can go somewhere else (to occupy). It doesn't need to be here," Kelvin Ng, 21, told AFP. Demonstrators are demanding fully free elections for the leadership of the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city in 2017. But China has refused to budge on its arrangements for the poll.
Police said they arrested a total of 148 people, including a 14-year-old boy, after Tuesday's clashes and that 22 police officers were injured.
WANING PUBLIC SUPPORT
Wednesday's clearance was the third since Hong Kong's high court, responding to petitions from a building owner and public transport operators, granted injunctions ordering the operations. "Please obey the injunction, leave immediately," a court bailiff told the crowd before the operation began.
Civilians wearing "I love HK" T-shirts and red baseball caps then began removing barricades blocking the road but protesters remained defiant. "I won't leave. It's (the sit-in) been illegal from day one with or without the court order," said one demonstrator, wearing a yellow helmet and a mask, who refused to give his name.
The demonstrators are protesting against China's restrictions on who will be allowed to stand in the 2017 election for the city's chief executive. Critics say this will guarantee the election of a pro-Beijing candidate.
The protests on a few occasions drew tens of thousands of people onto the streets. But the crowds have dwindled markedly in recent weeks as the movement has struggled to maintain momentum and commuters have grown weary of transport disruptions.
The Hong Kong Federation of Students, which has led the protests, said it was considering the next step. "The path of communication has run its course. If the government continues to resort to collusion with the police, unscrupulously going against the tide, then we can only take the next step of action," it said on its Facebook page without elaborating.
Separately, seven police officers who were suspended after a video emerged of them beating and kicking a handcuffed man have been arrested. "Police have arrested seven police officers suspected of assault causing bodily harm," police said in a statement late Wednesday, adding that investigations are ongoing.
The video that emerged in October showed plainclothes officers hauling a handcuffed and unarmed demonstrator to a dark corner of a protest-hit public park. One officer stands over the man and punches him, as three others are seen repeatedly kicking him.
- AFP/al
