Hong Kong authorities start clearing pro-democracy protest camp in Admiralty district

Hong Kong authorities have cleared part of a pro-democracy protest camp in the Admiralty district.

The bailiffs, backed by police, dismantled barricades outside Citic Tower after the building’s owners complained about the disruption and were granted a high court injunction.

The student protesters did not resist the clearance, and many helped to remove tents and fences.

The high court has also authorized the clearance of the Mong Kok site.

A third protest camp remains at Causeway Bay.

The activists have been on the streets since early October to protest against a decision by China to screen candidates for Hong Kong’s 2017 leadership election. Numbers were originally in the tens of thousands but have fallen to a few hundred.

Hong Kong and the Beijing government say the protests are illegal, and there is growing public frustration with the disruption to traffic and business.

The high court has also granted an injunction to taxi and minibus associations to clear the roads in Mong Kok, where on November 18 protesters had also begun packing up.

More requests have been lodged by bus companies to clear other roads affected by the protest sites.

Police operations to clear and contain the camps in recent weeks have sometimes led to clashes.

An attempt to clear an underpass near Admiralty led to accusations that police had used excessive violence, after a video emerged of officers apparently beating a protester.

At the weekend, a group of student leaders were prevented from travelling to Beijing, where they had hoped to seek an audience with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, after their travel permits were declared invalid.