Fresh clashes in Hong Kong as pro-democracy activists regroup (updated)

Vior Gold

17/10/2014 14:12

(Recasts with more clashes) 
    By Clare Baldwin and James Pomfret 
    HONG KONG, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Hong Kong riot police used 
pepper spray and baton charged crowds of pro-democracy 
protesters on Friday evening as tension escalated after a 
pre-dawn clearance of a major protest zone in the 
Chinese-controlled financial hub. 
    Crowds of protesters headed to the gritty and congested Mong 
Kok district after work and school on Friday evening, across the 
harbour from the heart of the civil disobedience movement near 
government headquarters, to try to reclaim sections of an 
intersection that police had cleared in a surprise raid early on 
Friday. 
    Hundreds of protesters tried to break through police lines 
and they used open umbrellas to shield themselves from pepper 
spray. In the melee, police used batons and scuffled violently 
with activists. 
    Police hauled off several protesters as others shouted 
insults and chanted "open the road". 
    The protesters, led by a restive generation of students, 
have been demanding China's Communist Party rulers live up to 
constitutional promises to grant full democracy to the former 
British colony which returned to Chinese rule in 1997. 
    Before dawn on Friday, hundreds of police staged their 
biggest raid yet on a pro-democracy protest camp, charging down 
student-led activists who had held the intersection in one of 
their main protest zones for more than three weeks. 
    The operation came while many protesters were asleep in 
dozens of tents or beneath giant, blue-striped tarpaulin sheets. 
    The raid was a gamble for the 28,000-strong police force who 
have come under criticism for aggressive clearance operations 
with tear gas and baton charges and for the beating of a 
handcuffed protester on Wednesday. 
    Storming into the intersection with helmets, riot shields 
and batons at the ready from four directions, the 800 officers 
caught the protesters by surprise. Many retreated without 
resisting. 
    "The Hong Kong government's despicable clearance here will 
cause another wave of citizen protests," radio talk-show host 
and activist Wong Yeung-tat said earlier. 
    In the evening, with more protesters streaming to the area, 
authorities closed the nearby underground train station, media 
reported.  
    Police raised red flags, warning the protesters not to 
charge. 
     
    DEMOCRACY DEMAND    
    The escalation in the confrontation illustrates the dilemma 
faced by police in striking a balance between law enforcement 
and not inciting the defiant protesters who have been out for 
three weeks in three core shopping and government districts. 
    In August, Beijing offered Hong Kong people the chance to 
vote for their own leader in 2017, but said only two to three 
candidates could run after getting backing from a 1,200-person 
"nominating committee" stacked with Beijing loyalists. 
    The protesters decry this as "fake" Chinese-style democracy 
and demand Beijing allow open nominations. 
    Earlier this week, police had used sledge-hammers and 
chainsaws to tear down concrete, metal and bamboo barricades to 
reopen a major road feeding the Central business district. 
    Despite the clearances, about 1,000 protesters remained 
camped on Hong Kong Island in a sea of tents and umbrellas on an 
eight-lane highway beneath skyscrapers. 
    Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leader Leung Chun-ying has said 
there is "zero chance" Beijing will give in to protesters' 
demands, a view shared by many observers and Hong Kong citizens. 
He has also refused to step down. 
    Leung has proposed talks next week with student leaders. 
    The Hong Kong Association of Banks called on Friday for an 
end to help Hong Kong preserve its competitiveness and maintain 
investor confidence. 
    At the peak of the protests, 100,000 had been on the 
streets, presenting Beijing with one of its biggest political 
challenges since it crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in and 
around Tiananmen Square in the Chinese capital in 1989. 
    Those numbers have dwindled significantly. 
    China rules Hong Kong under a "one country, two systems" 
formula that gives the city wide-ranging autonomy and freedoms 
not enjoyed in mainland China, with "universal suffrage" stated 
as the eventual aim. 
    It is concerned calls for democracy in Hong Kong, and in the 
neighbouring former Portuguese colony of Macau, could spread to 
the mainland, threatening the party's grip on power.     
     
     
 
 (Additional reporting by Bobby Yip, Jon Gordon; Writing by Anne 
Marie Roantree, Farah Master; Edting by Robert Birsel) 
 ((annemarie.roantree@thomsonreuters.com; +852 97387151; Reuters 
Messaging: annemarie.roantree.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: HONGKONG CHINA/