Thursday, December 11, 2014 Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters are bracing for arrests as police converge on their 10-week-old camp with warnings to leave immediately or be held on charges of unlawful assembly. Pan-democrat lawmakers, media tycoon Jimmy Lai and student leader Alex Chow were among fewer than 150 demonstrators remaining at the main occupation site at Admiralty on Thursday afternoon, mostly sitting on the main road as police advanced from all directions. Occupiers chanted: “We want real universal suffrage”, and there were minor scuffles outside the cordon. Around 1,000 people had continued to protest at the site in the morning, but many left when officers announced over loudspeakers that those who remained after 2pm would have their details taken before they could depart. Police had arrested several high-profile participants near their homes earlier in the day on charges of unlawful assembly and internet incitement, friends and local media reported. Wong Yeung-Tat, the leader of the Civic Passion group, reportedly faces more than 50 separate charges of unlawful assembly. A final rally on Wednesday night brought thousands on to the streets in a celebration of the “umbrella movement” which galvanised the city. There was no resistance as work teams began to dismantle barricades at Admiralty in the morning, prior to the police warning. Police dismantle the remains of the protest camp in the Admiralty district. Broadcasters announced the imminent clearance of a secondary, smaller protest zone at Causeway Bay. Workers and police removed occupiers from a site at Mong Kok in late November. At its peak, the “umbrella movement” saw tens of thousands take part in an unprecedented outburst of civil disobedience. Student leaders and other participants have made it clear they plan to keep up the pressure for greater political rights through as-yet unspecified tactics. Even as occupiers prepared to leave, taking down the tents that had sprung up across the eight-lane, east-west highway, the overall mood was one of defiance. “You are only clearing a camp … you can’t clear the idea,” read a message chalked in colourful letters across the asphalt. A string of gold helium balloons in front of a wall spelled out the words: “We will be back.” The veteran democracy activist Martin Lee said: “This is not the end. It is the continuation of the beginning. I am much more hopeful than ever before because now we have a new generation of pro-democracy protestors.” Carrie Lam, chief secretary of Hong Kong, said on Wednesday that the government was not naive enough to think that the clearances would spell the end of the Occupy movement. The protesters have demanded open nominations when the next chief executive is elected in 2017, angered by plans for tight controls on the process. Beijing has said that introducing universal suffrage is in itself a step forward. Pan-democrat lawmakers have said they will veto the new election framework. Underlying the immediate dispute are growing fears that China is eroding the region’s freedoms and culture. Hong Kong has considerable autonomy under the “one country, two systems” formula introduced when the former British colony was handed back to China in 1997. Fierce clashes in recent weeks left many protesters battered and bloodied as officers wielded batons and sprayed them with a powerful pepper solution. Police have said they used the minimum force necessary and that officers were also injured. Lau Shi-him, an 18-year-old science student at Hong Kong University, said: “I am leaving now as I do not need to stay and prove how violent the police can be. If I get arrested it is no achievement, so I will go but keep on fighting for universal suffrage for sure. “I feel sad because we have not made progress in terms of civil nomination, but more important is the civic education of the general public that this movement has achieved. It has shown that Hong Kong people are creative and care about democracy.” But a 25-year-old freelance theatre worker, who gave her name only as KK, said she would stay until police pushed her away. “I do not want them to think that they can terrorise us,” she said. “I have been hit and sprayed before, I can bear it. But once we leave of course it is not over. We will continue to fight for democracy.” Police had already said they would support the enforcement of a court order for the removal of protesters from three sections of the Admiralty site, but made it evident that they planned to clear the whole area. In a statement on Wednesday, police said “radicals and troublemakers” were claiming they would equip themselves with full body armour or other equipment to obstruct enforcement actions. It added that in such circumstances police would proportionally escalate the use of force. Scholars in academic robes stood by as the clearance began, saying they wanted to ensure the safety of students. Young Man-chan, 64, was one of around 40 pastors in attendance, dressed in purple T-shirts reading: “Protect our city”. “We hope people can retreat in a peaceful way. The atmosphere has eased quite a bit. I believe the movement has done a lot for Hong Kong.”
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 08:51:36 +0000
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