Hong Kong police clear pro-democracy protest camp, arresting dozens

Hong Kong authorities have cleared away the last barricades and tents erected during  a nearly three-month-long pro-democracy protest, but the dozens of activists they arrested on Thursday vowed that their fight would continue.

Hundreds of police officers carried out a methodical operation to shut down the protest site, which sprawled across a normally busy highway on the edge of Admiralty, the specially administered Chinese city's financial district. Police arrested dozens of demonstrators who refused to leave the main protest camp and tore down their tents in a final push to retake the streets. The number of protesters occupying the camps, which peaked in the tens of thousands in September, have diminished significantly in recent weeks. 

The Hong Kong protests represent one of the most serious challenges to China's authority since the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations at Beijing's Tiananmen Square. The Hong Kong movement demands free elections for the city's next leader in 2017 rather than a vote between pre-screened candidates, as Beijing has said it would allow.

The first person arrested on Thursday was carried away by her arms and legs. Groups of up to four police arrested the last holdouts one by one, hours after workers used wire cutters to remove barricades and dismantle bamboo scaffolding. In other parts of Admiralty, police dragged away tents, metal barriers, plastic sheets and umbrellas, which have become a worldwide symbol of the movement. Activists had used their umbrellas during clashes with the police to guard against pepper spray and baton blows.

There was little resistance on Thursday as protesters packed up the pillows, blankets and tents they had used in a camp located on some of the world's most expensive real estate. But by afternoon, dozens of students, pro-democracy lawmakers and middle-aged and elderly supporters remained. The students lay down and locked arms while their leaders and the pro-democracy lawmakers sat on the street, peacefully resisting the demands to clear out.  Police gave repeated warning and started arresting the last resisters, including media mogul Jimmy Lai, Cantonese pop singer Denise Ho, veteran activist Martin Lee and the legislator Albert Ho.

The sprawling encampment in Admiralty has been the focal point for the protesters, who have occupied the site for 75 days. As the clear out neared on Thursday, protesters chanted, "I want universal suffrage," and threw pieces of paper that read, "We will be back."

One of the student leaders, Alex Chow, rallied the crowds as the police approached, saying that their fight was not over and they would persist with civil disobedience in days to come. Two student groups that played key roles in organizing the protests had called for supporters to stay until the last moment, but not to resist authorities.

"If the government wants to use police to clear the site, don't forget, the clearance can't resolve political conflicts, it can't resolve society's dilemma," said Joshua Wong, the 18-year-old head of the Scholarism group and the pro-democracy movement's most prominent leader.

The police operation was under close scrutiny, with a group of about 30 academics monitoring the operation, along with the Independent Police Complaints Council and human rights groups.

On Sept. 28 police fired dozens of tear gas rounds at thousands of protesters gathering in the area angry over the prolonged detention of a student leader. The move infuriated protesters and the wider public and kick-started the student-led protest movement, which came to include two other protest sites in Hong Kong.

The protesters reject Beijing's restrictions on the first election for the city's top leader, scheduled for 2017, but have failed to win any concessions from Hong Kong's government, and the movement's momentum has faded recently as the government stuck to its apparent strategy of waiting the protesters out.

Police say 655 people have been arrested in past 2 1/2 months, and 129 officers injured. They gave no overall injury toll. A separate court order led to the clearing of the Mong Kok protest site in late November, but the operation and ensuing nighttime clashes in the gritty neighborhood's surrounding streets resulted in about 160 arrests.

Al Jazeera and wire services