Police clear HK democracy protesters who stormed govt HQ

HONG KONG - Police on Saturday cleared dozens of protesters who had stormed Hong Kong’s government headquarters overnight, as a week-long protest against Beijing’s refusal to grant the city unfettered democracy turned angry.

Nearly 2,000 protesters remained camped outside the complex in the early evening as police, who have made more than 60 arrests, guarded the entrance equipped with riot helmets and shields.

Officers in the afternoon escorted the final 50 demonstrators from the building’s forecourt, hauling some away after they refused to leave after pushing into the grounds late Friday.

“We want to decide our future by ourselves,” said 23-year-old international relations student Gary Mak, telling AFP that he saying he had no plans to leave the protest area.

“It’s a good foundation for all Hong Kong people to fight for democracy.” The early hours had seen the tensest scenes yet in a string of recent protests, with riot police using pepper spray to clear out more than 100 people who had pushed into the grounds of the complex, some of them scaling a high fence.

Student groups have been spearheading a civil disobedience campaign this week in response to Beijing’s announcement last month that it will choose who can stand in elections for Hong Kong’s leader in 2017.

More than 2,000 protesters, many of them secondary school pupils and university students, had protested at headquarters on Friday, culminating with around 150 demonstrators breaking through police lines.

Police had dragged many away overnight and into the morning. On Saturday afternoon, they said 61 men and women aged between 17 and 58 had been arrested.

They were arrested for “forcible entry into government premises and unlawful assembly", a police statement said, adding they are detained for enquiries.

‘Turning point’

Protesters had used umbrellas to protect themselves from being pepper-sprayed by the police.

"This is an amazing turning point,” Suki Wong, a recent graduate who works as an accountant, told AFP.

“Hong Kongers usually just lay there and do nothing. This time we’re really making an impact.” Lu Yiu, 20, said his throat and nose burned from the pepper spray.

“Everyone was crying as we were pushed onto the street from the extreme use of force,” said Lu, who spent nine hours caught between police lines unable to use the toilet or sleep.

In a statement, the government “expressed regret” that protesters had stormed the complex, saying security personnel, police officers and protesters had suffered injuries but without giving details.

Friday’s action was supposed to be the culmination of a week of protests that began on Monday when 13,000 students gathered on a campus in the north of the city, according to organisers.

On Thursday night, more than 2,000 people took their protest to the residence of Hong Kong’s leader Leung Chun-ying with the hope of speaking to him, but he has so far refused to speak to the students or meet their leaders.

The protest comes after China last month said Hong Kongers would be allowed to vote for their leader for the first time in 2017, but that only candidates approved by a pro-Beijing committee could stand.

A protest in July saw half-a-million-people – according to organisers – take to the streets to express their discontent at what they see as China’s increasingly tight grip on the city.

Political analyst Sonny Lo told AFP that civil disobedience campaign was a turning point in the city’s political development.

“From now on there will be more confrontation, possibly violent ones between citizens and police,” he said.

However, Lo said a political deadlock is imminent with Beijing authorities maintaining a hardline stance.

“The government needs to handle the students very carefully, any mishandling will spark larger acts of civil disobedience,” he said.

Handed back to China by former colonial ruler Britain in 1997, Hong Kong is governed under a “one country, two systems” agreement that grants civil liberties not seen on the mainland, including free speech and the right to protest.

But tensions have been rising in the southern Chinese city over fears that these freedoms are being eroded.