2014-12-11
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Hong Kong police arrest a pro-democracy demonstrator (2nd L) as authorities clear the main protest site in the Admiralty district in Hong Kong, Dec. 11, 2014.
AFP
Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong chanted “We’ll be back” as police and court bailiffs cleared their tents and barricades from a major highway in the semiautonomous Chinese city early on Thursday local time, putting an end to a two-month-long occupation.
Police arrested 209 people during the clearance of Harcourt Road near government headquarters in the former British colony’s Admiralty district, while more than 900 people had their details noted and could still be charged, a spokesman said.
Among those arrested were student leaders of the Occupy Central, or “Umbrella,” movement that began on Sept. 28, bringing hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets after clashes with riot police who used tear gas, batons, and pepper spray on umbrella-carrying protesters.
Pan-democratic politicians, protest leaders, and even a pop star were among those in the final sit-in who were arrested, with some walking quietly under police escort with plastic handcuffs and others being carried away by officers.
Police took away Democratic Party founder Martin Lee, Civic Party lawmakers Alan Leong and Audrey Eu, Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau, and media mogul Jimmy Lai, whose Apple Daily media group had covered the protests by live webcast and drone camera since they began.
Student leader Nathan Law, Cantopop star Denise Ho, and veteran activist Leung Kwok-hung, known by his nickname “Long Hair,” were also held.
A major impact
Alex Chow said in an interview with RFA before the clearance operation began that the movement has already had a major impact on the territory’s political life.
“The Occupy movement has been very effective in awakening our citizens,” Chow told RFA. “We had such huge numbers; hundreds of thousands took part in the civil disobedience movement.”
“Hong Kong people are willing to pay the price for democracy,” he said. “We may not have gotten the result we wanted today, but … people won’t just give up on the movement now.”
Chow said he still expects to see smaller but frequent protests greeting Hong Kong government officials as they try to persuade people to accept Beijing’s electoral reform plan.
HKFS core member Lester Shum said both the HKFS and the academic activist group Scholarism would stick to principles of nonviolence.
“Everyone knows that the government isn’t going to give way on electoral reforms, so we will have to work to put even more pressure on them in future,” Shum said.
“A bigger weight of public opinion could force the government to make concessions,” he said.
