Mong Kok residents’ lives ‘back to normal’
Print Edition
MORE scuffles broke out last night between Hong Kong police and Occupy Central protesters in a district police had cleared earlier in the day.
Chaotic scenes unfolded several hours after police had moved in to clear tents, canopies and barricades from Mong Kok.
The dawn operation — the third in recent days by police in a bid to retake the streets from protesters — came after Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying sought to defuse a bitter standoff on Thursday by reviving an offer of talks with representatives of the Federation of Students, one of the main organizers of the protest.
The area of an offshoot of the Occupy demonstration site was largely reduced with a main road freed up to traffic yesterday morning following the large-scale removal of blockades by the police.
Hundreds of police officers were involved in the operation which began around 5am in Mong Kok, a protest site across the Victoria Harbor from the main demonstration areas near Hong Kong’s government headquarters in Admiralty, catching the protesters by surprise.
Tents, bamboo and other makeshift barricades were taken down before protesters could put up any resistance.
The northbound lane of Nathan Road, a main throughfare, was freed up to allow traffic to flow at 8am when most of the blockades had been removed.
The southbound lane of the busy road remained occupied by protesters.
Police Senior Superintendent Catherine Kwan said the operation was carried out smoothly and peacefully, bringing Mong Kok residents’ lives back to normal.
Shop owners seemed happy about the resumption of traffic. One drugstore owner said they had lost more than 80 percent of sales since the Occupy movement began, according to local media.
All bank branches that were previously affected by the protests had resumed normal operation as of noon yesterday, according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
Tensions had escalated in the city with a few clashes breaking out between police and the protesters over the past few days after several police officers were seen kicking a handcuffed protester on Wednesday in a video clip.
Hong Kong Secretary of Security Lai Tung-kwok told legislators yesterday that he did not agree with accusations that officers had abused their power when dealing with Occupy demonstrations.
The police have been treating the protesters with the highest toleration, while individual incidents should not affect the assessment of the force, Lai said, referring to the beating.
Meanwhile, around 30 members of the anti-Occupy “Blue Ribbon Movement” went to the Chinese University of Hong Kong yesterday to demand the university deal with its employee Chan Kin-man, one of the Occupy Central organizers.
More than 100 students met and welcomed the anti-Occupy Campaign members at the gate. Campaign leader Leticia Lee delivered a statement criticizing Chan for inciting students to take part in the Occupy movement.
Thousands of protesters, most of them students, joined the Occupy Central movement to express their discontent with the framework set by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee on electing Hong Kong’s next leader.
According to Hong Kong Basic Law and the top legislature’s decisions, more than 5 million voters can have a say as to who will become chief executive in 2017 in a “one man, one vote” election.
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