BackHong Kong police prepare to clear protesters as appeals rejected
The ruling may re-ignite violent clashes between police and protesters, as government talks with student leaders are stalled
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Hong Kong: Hong Kong’s police commissioner said his force will help clear pro-democracy protest sites that have disrupted the city for seven weeks, as a judge dismissed demonstrators’ appeals against orders to remove them.
High Court chief judge Andrew Cheung Kui-nung’s ruling means bailiffs can remove obstructions in the two main protest sites—Mong Kok on the north side of Victoria Harbour, and Admiralty, where the city’s government headquarters are located. Under the injunctions, police are authorized to assist in the clearing and arrest anyone who interferes.
The ruling may re-ignite violent clashes between police and protesters as government talks with student leaders are stalled and China refuses to give in to demands for free elections in the city in 2017. Chinese president Xi Jinping last week expressed support for Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying while hosting the Asia-Pacific economic cooperation forum in Beijing.
The Hong Kong federation of students will send three of its leaders to Beijing on Saturday to seek talks with Chinese officials on its pro-democracy demands after its requests to former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa and Rita Fan, a Hong Kong deputy to China’s national people’s Congress, went unheeded.
The federation wants China to reverse a decision to vet candidates for Hong Kong’s chief executive election in 2017, the group said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.
Secretary General Alex Chow will be accompanied on the trip by standing committee members Eason Chung and Nathan Law, it said.
The protest movement that has occupied Hong Kong’s streets in main commercial districts since September is losing momentum amid dissent among its leaders and dwindling crowds. Chief secretary Carrie Lam has ruled out more talks with the students.
Powerless students
“Some pro-democracy supporters were detained, sent back recently" when they traveled to China, the student federation said. “We, a few powerless students from Hong Kong in the face of a great political regime, still won’t back down."
Beijing won’t make any concessions and the students will probably be sent back to Hong Kong, Ming Pao newspaper reported yesterday, citing an unidentified person familiar with Beijing’s plans.
The injunctions were brought by taxi and bus drivers who said that their business has been impaired by the blockage of key roads by the students. Bloomberg
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