Final warning for HK protesters

Hong Kong police and bailiffs gave protesters a final warning to leave the main pro-democracy protest camp across a busy highway before they started removing barricades on Thursday.

Court workers were due to carry out a restraining order in Hong Kong's Admiralty government and financial district at 9 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) - at which point protesters were still present.

Bailiffs moved down the road and repeatedly read out a warning for people to leave certain roads.

Police Senior Superintendent Kwok Pak-chung warned the public that anyone obstructing the bailiffs would be arrested.

The injunction was requested by a bus company, which said its business was suffering because the protesters' camp was blocking traffic. It was issued on December 9 and allowed bailiffs to "request the assistance of police" to clear a protest zone near government headquarters.

'We will be back'

Around 10,000 people gathered overnight on Wednesday in what was expected to be the end of the 10-week demonstration launched by the Occupy Central movement. The activists are demanding free and fair 2017 elections for the semi-autonomous region, without interference from mainland China.

"I want real universal suffrage," some chanted. Others left messages in chalk on the asphalt that read, "We will be back."

Demonstrators had been blocking the main thoroughfare around government offices for 75 days.

"We will organize greater events in the future to show we will not just admit defeat," said Nathan Law of the Hong Kong Federation of Students.

"Even if authorities control our fate now, one day we will control their fate," said Joshua Wong, the 18-year-old founder of Hong Kong student activist group.

Reduced numbers

Hong Kong has been disrupted by demonstrations in the city, aimed at pressuring the Beijing government to allow open nominations in leadership elections scheduled for 2017 in the former British colony.

At their height, the rallies drew tens of thousands of people, but numbers have dwindled to just hundreds in recent weeks. Police have cleared three protest sites in the city, but two camps remain in its center.

The Beijing government has refused to change its stance, after announcing in late August that candidates for the 2017 leadership elections will first have to be vetted by a loyalist committee.

Britain handed Hong Kong back to the Chinese government in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" scheme that allows Hong Kong a degree of autonomy from the mainland and envisages eventual "universal suffrage."

ksb/jm (AFP, AP, Reuters)