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.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
Four former Hong Kong opposition lawmakers jailed in the territory’s largest national security case were released yesterday after more than four years in prison, the first among dozens convicted last year to regain their freedom. Former legislators Claudia Mo (毛孟靜), Jeremy Tam (譚文豪), Kwok Ka-ki (郭家麒) and Gary Fan (范國威) were part of a group of 47 public figures — including some of Hong Kong’s best-known democracy advocates — who were charged with subversion in 2021 for holding an informal primary election. The case fell under a National Security Law imposed on the territory by Beijng, and drew international condemnation and warnings
RSS