Hundreds of Hong Kong police yesterday cleared a pro-democracy protest camp, arresting Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) and another student leader, and reopening a main road blocked for almost two months.
Pushing back protesters, police with the help of workmen removed tents and other obstacles blocking the six-lane Nathan Road in Mong Kok district.
It is seen as the most significant move so far in efforts to clear away protest camps at three separate locations in the territory, as public sympathy with the demonstrators wanes.
Photo: AFP
Scuffles broke out earlier in the day as police wearing helmets and brandishing batons moved in to protect the workmen from the crowds that surged forward to try to stop them tearing down road barricades.
The operation went ahead a day after nearly 150 demonstrators were arrested as authorities cleared a smaller section of the Mong Kok protest camp.
Hundreds of police quickly pushed protesters back, and removed wooden and metal barricades, tents and other obstructions along a 500m stretch of Nathan Road.
About two hours after the operation started, only a handful of protesters remained at the edge of the site.
The movement’s student leaders Wong and Lester Shum (岑敖暉) were arrested at the scene, according to protest group Scholarism and the Hong Kong Federation of Students.
A well-known protester and member of the League of Social Democrats, Raphael Wong (黃浩銘), who was arrested along with the pair, said on his Facebook page that they were being held at a police station.
“I am at the Kwai Chung police station, next to me is Joshua and Lester, we have been charged with contempt of court and obstructing public officers,” Wong wrote. “It is possible we won’t get bail tonight and will be at a magistrates’ court tomorrow.”
Police were unable to immediately give a reason why the three had been arrested when contacted.
Tensions were running high yesterday after scuffles the previous day when police used pepper spray on protesters at the site.
Mong Kok was the scene of some of the most violent clashes since the sit-ins began in the territory on Sept. 28.
Demonstrators are demanding fully free elections for the leadership of the semi-autonomous southern Chinese territory in 2017, but China has refused to budge on its arrangements for the poll.
Police said they arrested at total of 148 people, including a 14-year-old boy, in the two-day Mong Kok operation and that 22 police officers were injured.
Separately, seven police officers who were suspended after a video emerged of them beating and kicking a handcuffed man have been arrested.
“Police have arrested seven police officers suspected of assault causing bodily harm,” police said in a statement late yesterday, adding that investigations were ongoing.
The video that emerged last month showed plainclothes officers hauling a handcuffed and unarmed demonstrator to a dark corner of a protest-hit public park.
One officer stands over the man and punches him, as three others are seen repeatedly kicking him.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
RSS