- Hong Kong police clear a major intersection occupied by protesters
- Up to 600 police stormed the site at dawn, catching protesters off guard
- Most protesters did not resist police
- Demonstrators continue to occupy a site in the city's financial district
Hong Kong (CNN) -- Hong Kong police moved at dawn on Friday to clear a major intersection occupied by pro-democracy protesters for almost three weeks, tearing down tents and dismantling barricades.
Around 500 to 600 police carrying wire cutters and riot shields stormed the site in the city's busy Mong Kok district, an offshoot of the main downtown protest area, catching the 200 or so protesters at the site off guard.
Police also used a crane to tear down makeshift structures erected by the protesters.
A CNN team at the scene said most protesters did not put up any resistance. Police later said they arrested one 48-year-old man for common assault.
University student Adrian Lui, who had been at the protest camp for three days, said he was sleeping when the police moved in.
"They were running towards us with shields and at that moment we were nervous. Lots of people got spooked and ran down side streets."
Lui said he would stay at the site in the hope that back-up protesters would arrive. Live pictures from CNN affiliate iCable Friday morning showed crowds regrouping in Mong Kok, preventing traffic from flowing southbound along Nathan Road, a main thoroughfare in Kowloon.
Government offers talks
On Thursday, Hong Kong's leader C.Y. Leung said that the government was eager to resume talks with the main student group as early as next week.
However, he said the city's tolerance of mass sit-ins was limited and the standoff could not carry on.
READ: Street blockades cannot continue
Protesters continue to occupy a major thoroughfare in Admiralty, close to the city's financial district and government headquarters, but police have chipped away at the area held by protesters this week by removing barricades and opening roads to traffic.
On Friday morning, police called on protesters gathering on Lung Wo road, which runs past the central government headquarters, to disperse. The street was the site of tense clashes on Tuesday and Wednesday night as police used pepper spray and wielded batons against protesters.
At the peak of the protest in early October, tens of thousands of people came onto the streets at three locations in Hong Kong -- Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok -- to call for universal suffrage.
READ: Hong Kong sees police force in new light
No comments:
Post a Comment