Hong Kong authorities clearing part of Admiralty protest site Hong Kong bailiffs are clearing out a protest site near government offices after the high court granted an injunction authorising the move. The bailiffs, accompanied by police officers, are removing barricades at Citic Tower in the Admiralty area. Pro-democracy student protesters have begun packing up their tents to move elsewhere. The court order covers only part of the site. The high court has also authorised the clearance of the Mong Kok site. A third protest camp remains at Causeway Bay. The BBCs Karishma Vaswani in Hong Kong said the scene at Admiralty appeared calm, with many students saying they would not get in the way. Prominent student leader Joshua Wong told the BBC that they would not resist as long as the authorities only cleared the area mentioned in the injunction. Mr Wong said if the authorities headed to other sites, activists would be very disappointed. Protesters at Admiralty have said they will simply move elsewhere. Garment worker Jason Fung told the South China Morning Post: Well just go protest somewhere that the injunction doesnt cover. Last week the Hong Kong high court granted an injunction to the owners of Citic Tower to clear access to the building. It also granted an injunction to taxi and minibus associations to clear the roads in Mong Kok, where on Tuesday protesters had also begun packing up. More requests have been lodged by bus companies to clear other roads affected by the protest sites. The protests in Hong Kong have lasted for nearly two months. Demonstrators are calling for the publics right to nominate candidates in the 2017 chief executive election, following Chinas decision to screen candidates. At their peak, the protest drew tens of thousands of supporters to the street. A few hundred protesters, many of them students, have remained at the three protest sites in organised tent cities. An attempt by student leaders to travel to Beijing to seek an audience with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang failed at the weekend, after their travel permits were declared invalid. post by:St, source:BBC
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 03:40:47 +0000