Beijing: Hong Kong police have arrested high-profile student protest leaders Joshua Wong and Lester Shum, as authorities moved to clear a key protest camp at the heart of a pro-democracy civil disobedience movement that has swept the financial hub for two months.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In the clearest escalation against the protesters in weeks, police tactical units were deployed on Wednesday to assist bailiffs in enforcing court orders to remove makeshift steel and bamboo barricades on Nathan Road in the gritty Kowloon district of Mong Kok. Fresh scuffles broke out as some protesters resisted attempts to force them off the streets.
Mr Wong, the 18-year-old convenor of Scholarism, and Mr Shum, 21, the deputy leader of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, were among dozens of protesters arrested by police in Mong Kok since the clearance operation began on Tuesday morning, with thousands of riot and tactical police on standby.
"If you resist you face possible imprisonment. We warn you to immediately stop resisting," a policeman said into a loudhailer in front of hundreds of jeering protesters, some wearing goggles and hard hats.
The Hong Kong Federation of Students swiftly condemned the arrest of the student leaders, accusing Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying of "despising public opinion" and threatening an escalation of its protests, which first erupted over a decision by Beijing to reject calls for public nomination for Hong Kong's next elections in 2017.
Student groups have implored protesters to continue the occupation of key camps, including in Mong Kok and outside government headquarters in Admiralty, despite independent opinion polls showing support for protests in their current form was waning.
"Even though the majority of the Hong Kong population still want to change the National People's Congress decision … they don't see any possibility that the student occupation will change anything." said Willy Lam, a political analyst at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, though he pointed out the arrests of the popular student leaders may reinvigorate the cause.
The pro-democracy movement has shown signs of splintering, with radical voices urging escalated action after a near two-month stalemate, while others are calling for a tactical retreat.
More than 100,000 people took to the streets at the peak of the protests in early October, but numbers have dropped to a few hundred scattered in tents over three main sites, though thousands return to the streets of Mong Kok on Tuesday, resulting in clashes through the night and 116 arrests.
with agencies
