Hong Kong Protesters Clash With Police for Street Control
By Natasha Khan, Fion Li and Michelle Yun
Dec 1, 2014 4:49 AM ET
Photographer: Billy Kwok/Bloomberg
Police used pepper spray and batons to force back demonstrators in hard hats and carrying wooden shields, who had earlier seized Lung Wo Road
Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong tussled with police for control of roads leading to government offices in a renewed attempt to get Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to yield to their demands for free elections.
Hundreds of protesters faced off against police officers at key junctions around the offices in the Admiralty district. Police used pepper spray and batons to force back demonstrators in hard hats and carrying wooden shields, who had earlier seized Lung Wo Road.
Student leaders rallied supporters last night in an attempt to escalate the protests after police cleared demonstrators in the Mong Kok district across the harbor last week. The Chinese government has rebuffed student demands to reverse a decision to screen candidates for the city’s leadership election in 2017, which set off the crisis more than two months ago.
“The government must respond to the people’s democracy demands,” Alex Chow, the secretary general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, told reporters. “We must exert pressure on the authorities and the government headquarters is the symbol of central power. By surrounding the headquarters, we are paralyzing its operations.”
Control of Lung Wo Road, which is outside the chief executive’s office, swung from one side to the other during the night. While the march last night expanded the protesters’ street occupation, the number of people responding was below the tens of thousands at the movement’s peak when images of police using tear gas had rallied support.
Photographer: Philippe Lopez/AFP via Getty Images
Demonstrators attend a pro-democracy rally in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong today. Student leaders are seeking to revive the movement, which has seen public support waned and protest sites cleared by the police.
Protest Escalation
The pro-democracy movement has stuttered in the past month, with polls showing public opinion swinging against it while some leaders called for an end to the occupation. Student leaders seeking to go to Beijing to talk to Chinese officials were turned back at the airport, while the Hong Kong courts issued injunctions for the clearance of some sites.
“We must escalate our actions because the government has all along ignored us,” said Joanna Wong, 29, who had sought to push through police lines. “They didn’t respond. We must surround the government headquarters.”
The police issued a statement asking protesters to stop the illegal assembly, charging police cordon lines and blocking roads.
Through the night, both sides sought to advance, resulting in the worst skirmishes in the district since Oct 15. At Harcourt Road, they used barricades and wooden planks to narrow access to the government buildings.
“We’ve now surrounded the government headquarters, we ask you -- citizens and friends -- to stay here tonight, okay?” organizers on loudspeakers repeated. The crowd clapped in answer, shouting “I want universal suffrage!”
Make-Shift Barriers
Demonstrators are demanding that China withdraws its Aug. 31 decision for a committee to vet candidates for the city’s leadership election, which raised concerns it will influence decision making.
Chief Executive Leung had said public nomination, which protesters want, will be against the city’s de-facto constitution.
About 68 percent of 513 people surveyed by the University of Hong Kong said the government should take action to end the student-led protests, according to a poll conducted Nov. 17-18. Police arrested at least 159 people when they cleared demonstrators in Mong Kok last week.
“I don’t mind being arrested tonight if it means more pressure on the government to meet our demands,” said a woman surnamed Tang, 57, at the protest site. “I’m old now, I want to do this for the next generation.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Natasha Khan in Hong Kong at nkhan51@bloomberg.net; Fion Li in Hong Kong at fli59@bloomberg.net; Michelle Yun in Hong Kong at myun11@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tan Hwee Ann at hatan@bloomberg.net Neil Western
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