Skip to main content

Protesters expelled from Mong Kok

150 arrested as police clear nobbled camp

Officers arrested 148 people in Hong Kong's Mong Kok area yesterday as the police pressed ahead for a second day clearing barricades blocking the streets.

The police were acting to enforce a court injunction granted to taxi drivers to remove obstructions along Mong Kok's Nathan Road.

Helmeted officers swiftly removed metal barriers, tents, canopies and other obstructions in the crowded working-class neighbourhood that had been the flashpoint of earlier clashes.

Clean-up crews piled up debris left behind by the protesters and the road gradually opened up to traffic and pedestrians yesterday afternoon.

Among those taken into custody were Hong Kong Federation of Students deputy secretary general Lester Shum and Joshua Wong of the Scholarism group, who are reputed to be leaders of street protests.

Most protesters scattered as the police moved in but a handful confronted dozens of officers in a side street, determined to await supporters they expected to join them in the evening after leaving school or work.

Mong Kok has been home to a more raucous and aggressive group of protesters than at the two other sites around the city where camps remain.

Previous efforts to clear the area have backfired, sending more people into the streets in the evening to confront police.

Police spokesman Steve Hui said that of the 148 people arrested, 55 had been held for contempt of court and obstructing officers carrying out the court-ordered barricade removals.

In chaotic pepper spray-fuelled clashes on Tuesday, police arrested 93 more for resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, unlawful assembly and possessing offensive weapons.

The other remaining protest zones, across Victoria Harbour, include a sprawling main camp next to government headquarters on the edge of the financial district and a smaller one in the Causeway Bay shopping district.

The protesters demand that Hong Kong's government scrap a plan to use a panel to screen candidates for the special autonomous region's top leader in inaugural 2017 elections.

Organisers estimate that as many as 200,000 people took to the streets at the start of the protests but numbers have since dwindled sharply, along with public support.

OWNED BY OUR READERS

We're a reader-owned co-operative, which means you can become part of the paper too by buying shares in the People’s Press Printing Society.

 

 

Become a supporter

Fighting fund

You've Raised:£ 13,288
We need:£ 4,712
3 Days remaining
Donate today