Updated July 2, 2014 2:37 a.m. ET
Protesters are taken away by police officers after a sit-in in Hong Kong’s financial district. Kin Cheung/Associated Press
HONG KONG—Police arrested 511 people who refused to leave a street in the financial district Wednesday, a day after a huge crowd marched across the city to mark the anniversary of the city’s handover to China by denouncing interference from Beijing and demanding democratic elections.
Those arrested were mostly students who had vowed to stay in the park in the city’s Central district until 8 a.m. Police began clearing the park in the early morning hours and the last students were taken at that time after the crowd counted down to 8 a.m.
Hong Kong will see a ‘rough period’ in politics over the next six months and possibly a new mass street protest, says Danny Gittings of the University of Hong Kong. The WSJ’s Ramy Inocencio recaps July 1st protests marking the city’s return to China.
Some of those taken away by police shouted and struggled, while others walked or were carried silently. Police held signs over the crowd telling them to board police buses.
