Hong Kong police have detained several student leaders after 24 hours of clashes, as they ramp up efforts to end pro-democracy protests in the Chinese territory.
Following a night of skirmishes in Mongkok that saw police use pepper spray on protesters, officers on Wednesday arrested Joshua Wong and Lester Shum, two of the leaders. Over two days of operations to clear parts of the district – one of the two main democracy protest sites in Hong Kong – police have arrested 116 people.
Protesters have held sit-in demonstrations for the past two months to oppose a Chinese plan for electoral reform in the territory. They have blocked roads in Mongkok, a densely populated part of Kowloon, and Admiralty, a central business district on Hong Kong Island which is home to the government headquarters.
In August, China agreed to introduce universal suffrage – one person, one vote – for the 2017 election of chief executive, the top political job in Hong Kong. But the plan included restrictions that effectively bar critics of Beijing from running.
Hong Kong has struggled to deal with the demonstrations, which initially drew tens – and possibly hundreds – of thousands of people on to the streets. An early effort to clear protesters backfired when the police used tear gas, in a move that ended up parking more sympathy for the so-called “Umbrella revolution”.
On Wednesday, bailiffs cleared an occupied area on Nathan Road, a popular shopping street for Chinese tourists in Mongkok, following an injunction brought by a taxi company. On Tuesday, thousands of police helped the bailiffs remove protesters from an occupied block on Argyle Street just yards from an H&M store.
Student leaders complied with an order on Tuesday to dismantle a stage on Argyle Street. But when the bailiffs returned after the deadline, protesters refused to leave, prompting the police to intervene. As protesters were pushed out of the occupied block, they poured into nearby streets, setting the stage for overnight clashes.
While the Umbrella movement – named as such after protesters used umbrellas to shield themselves from tear gas – initially attracted widespread support, residents have become increasingly tired of the disruption. A recent poll found that more than 80 per cent of respondents believe that the protesters should leave the streets.
In Mongkok on Wednesday, one middle-aged woman opposed to the protests, urged the students to clear the streets. “What’s the point of occupying these streets for so long? Don’t they (the protesters) have work to do?”, asked the woman.
As Hong Kong residents grow impatient, a split has emerged in the movement. Occupy Central, a pro-democracy group led by two professors, has urged the student leaders to change strategy and clear the blocked streets.
But the students, who include Mr Wong, 18, insist that they must remain to keep pressure on the governments of both Hong Kong and China. Before his arrest, Mr Wong posted a statement from Scholarism, the student group that he leads, on Facebook, saying, “if we give up occupation today, what we give up isn’t just a genuine electoral system, but also our life and future”.
Since Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997, the territory has been governed under the “one country, two systems” formula agreed by Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher. The framework gives Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy – except over defence and foreign policy – for 50 years after the handover. But pro-democracy supporters worry that China is chipping away at the policy.
China’s electoral reform plan needs approval from two-thirds of the 70 members of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council. But all 27 members of the opposition “pan-Democrat” camp have vowed to block it.
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