China Hong Kong SAR: News and Images

[TaiShang]

Hong Kong barricades taken down by police

Police are set to let traffic flow again at protest sites in a busy area of Hong Kong after clearing lanes at two of three sites in an orderly and violence-free operation.

The force is preparing to return Kowloon's busiest intersection to the general public, Chief Superintendent Stephen Hui said, after police reopened tramlines and traffic lanes on Hong Kong island on Tuesday.

Following a pledge to reopen the major east-west traffic artery with minimal force, officers with chainsaws and sledge hammers made quick work of the ramparts protestors built on Monday evening.

An onlooker surnamed Kung, who identified himself as a taxi driver, praised the police action, saying, "The protesters should consider society's common benefit and take a step back for Hong Kong. During the occupation, traffic congestion took away 40 percent of my income. I respect freedom, but I also need my freedom - to earn my living."

Hui said officers will ensure reopened roads remain unobstructed and that police would not tolerate attempts to replace obstacles. Protesters taking part in an illegal sit-in for political reforms that go against the Basic Law remain around the Central Government Complex in Admiralty.

Hui appealed to protesters to allow lawmakers and government officials to enter the Legislative Council unmolested after a deal was reached to restart general meetings suspended due to the security threat posed by protesters blockading the complex.

Hui said police would monitor the situation in Mong Kok before taking action, declining to say when exactly police would move in to restore traffic flows.

The force has removed most of the barriers in the early morning hours when there are the fewest protesters.

Police have classified illegal gatherings at the Mong Kok intersection as high risk for confrontations between residents upset at the blockades and protesters manning barricades. A number of sporadic scuffles have already erupted over the past weeks.

Hui stressed that police operations would be announced ahead of any action to give protestors a chance to clear out.

The police action comes after weeks of mounting frustration by anti-occupation groups, including a group of irate transport workers who fanned out on Monday afternoon in a bid to take down the barriers and confront protestors. Twenty-three men aged 16 to 54 were arrested in relation to the Monday operation.

A union representing Hong Kong tramway conductors also called on protesters, who have ignored numerous appeals from affected residents, to clear Causeway Bay after the sit-ins, now entering a third week, began to eat into wages.

Conductors say suspension of service has forced hourly wage earners to lose roughly HK$3,000 over the past two weeks while others have had to take unpaid leave.

***

Hong Kong police remove barricades for traddic order

For weeks now, protestors of the ‪#‎OccupyCentral‬ movement in Hong Kong have blocked streets and at times brought the Asian economic mecca to a standstill.

At various points, protests have swelled into the thousands and diminished to only a few hundred before swelling again.

In the latest from the scene, some roads in Mongkok, Central and Wanchai have now been reopened. Police also cleared some barricades from the bustling shopping district of Causeway Bay. In the process, police called on the protesters to listen to them, and leave the roads open for traffic.

However, "Occupy Central" protesters refused to remove all the barricades, and added reinforcements by erecting bamboo scaffolding, and mixing concrete to pour over the foundations of their roadblocks.

‪#‎HongKong‬’s Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said earlier that the tolerance by the SAR gov't and the police towards the protestors has been rare seen even in some Western countries.

He added the Occupy Central movement could not be allowed to last much longer.

 

[vietnamese_sausage]

This is like a game. A real drain on china's economy.

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

This is like a game. A real drain on china's economy.

Only on Hong Kong's economy, not the rest of China's.

 

[TaiShang]

This is like a game. A real drain on china's economy.

Nah, there is no such drain. What is it in the protests that really caused loss of economic growth? Maybe service business in certain areas, local taxi drivers, vendors etc. are adversely affected. But there has not been no looting, burning, stealing, damaging, or killing.

Unlike Vietnam, which has to suffer the dire consequences of its uncivil barbaric mass protests.

If Vietnam survives from the mass looting and burning, no worries, China will survive a peaceful protest.

 

[Keel]

Even though both China and Vietnam are independent countries, its people are far from being free. Democracy have been discussed here, but Freedom and Human Rights is ultimately what people still strive for.

If China becomes a democracy country. Vietnam will automatically have hers without internal warfare and bloodsheds. Vietnam being next to a super power can't help but wear the same party hats as its big neighbor. This is evident through history. History of China, Vietnam and the whole world have one thing in common: People are always fighting for freedom. True freedom comes from true leaders. True leaders comes from knowledge. Knowledge is greatest power of the people.

Seek this knowledge for yourself and what it means to be "Free". Find out the key elements of democracy and spread this knowledge.

A good government is one that continuously evolves to meet the people's needs. A good citizen should contributes to his/hers government in order to complete the cycle. Protests, petitions, and votes are peaceful ways to appeal to authorities with respect to a particular cause.

Changes are good. Changes without bloodshed is even better. But like @ClassicMan have said, "a gem can not be polished without friction."

Let's hope.

That is a sermon knowing that you country has just gunned down a black folk in Missouri again in the wake of a series of violation of human rights
If imperialist america has learnt to acquire the knowledge of how to live and let live, then the world will be a better place
Some stones don want to be gems. They want to be as natural as themselves so no friction is required

 

[vietnamese_sausage]

Nah, there is no such drain. What is it in the protests that really caused loss of economic growth? Maybe service business in certain areas, local taxi drivers, vendors etc. are adversely affected. But there has not been no looting, burning, stealing, damaging, or killing.

Unlike Vietnam, which has to suffer the dire consequences of its uncivil barbaric mass protests.

If Vietnam survives from the mass looting and burning, no worries, China will survive a peaceful protest.

peaceful protest. i agree generally speaking, yes very peaceful. but lets say this drag on for another two months of blocking traffic, disrupting businesses. you tell me this will not affect hk and china?
some business owners say they lost 90% of customers due to peaceful protest.

 

[Keel]

peaceful protest. i agree generally speaking, yes very peaceful. but lets say this drag on for another two months of blocking traffic, disrupting businesses. you tell me this will not affect hk and china?
some business owners say they lost 90% of customers due to peaceful protest.

the civil unrest is only restricted to a very small part of HK.
Mainland is not affected at all
The HK police ihas already cleared some of the roads and I think more to come in the next few days

Hong Kong police use sledgehammers, chainsaws to clear protest barriers, open road
BY JAMES POMFRET AND DONNY KWOK

HONG KONG Tue Oct 14, 2014 3:01pm EDT

8 COMMENTS

• Tweet
• 
  1 OF 12. Police remove a barricade left by pro-democracy protesters on a main road leading to the financial Central district in Hong Kong October 14, 2014.
  
  CREDIT: REUTERS/BOBBY YIP
  
  
  
  
  Bringing down the barricades
  Hong Kong police remove the barricades erected by protesters. Slideshow
  
  RELATED NEWS
  • China won't cede to HK protests, army used only as last resort-sources
  
  ANALYSIS & OPINION
  • Once the hamburgers are gone, can a regime hold on?
  • Measuring political risk in emerging markets
  RELATED TOPICS
  • World »
  
  
  
  (Reuters) - Hundreds of Hong Kong police used sledgehammers and chainsaws on Tuesday to tear down barricades erected by pro-democracy protesters near government offices and the financial center, reopening a major road for the first time in two weeks.
  
  But late in the evening demonstrators retaliated by swarming into a tunnel on a major four-lane thoroughfare, bringing traffic to a halt and chanting for universal suffrage.
  
  Riot police tried to push them back with pepper spray and batons, according to a local news channel, but later retreated.
  
  "I think the government doesn't respect us," said Kevin Chan, a protester wearing a surgical mask and goggles covering his black glasses, as he stood behind a makeshift wall.
  
  "They have to talk to us and compromise, otherwise we won't stand down."
  
  Traffic flowed freely along Queensway Road after the protesters' obstructions were cleared early in the day, although other major protest sites remained intact in the Admiralty and Mong Kok districts and pro-democracy demonstrators were defiant.
  
  Police with chainsaws cut through bamboo defenses and others wielded sledgehammers to smash concrete blocks outside the Bank of China's Hong Kong headquarters and next to the office of Asia's richest man, Li Ka-shing.
  
  Office workers streamed onto the streets to watch.
  
  Unlike on Monday, when clashes erupted between anti-protest groups and pro-democracy activists after police removed blockades, there was no immediate confrontation as a result of Tuesday's operation.
  
  In the evening, however, hundreds of people made a surprise move to occupy the tunnel on Lung Wo Road, an important east-west artery near the offices of the Hong Kong government and legislature that had been intentionally left open to traffic for most of more than two weeks of protests.
  
  "The police took a road from us today and cleared away tents, so we're taking this road," said Kelvin Chor, one of the protesters.
  
  
  
  MORE BARRICADES GO UP
  
  After the police retreated, hundreds of demonstrators swiftly formed several lines of makeshift barricades, setting the stage for another possible flashpoint.
  
  On the road near the tunnel, a replica gravestone bearing a picture of the city's pro-Beijing leader, Leung Chun-ying, was erected with a message: "Even hell doesn't welcome you."
  
  The protesters, most of them students, are demanding full democracy for the former British colony, but their two-week campaign has caused traffic chaos and fueled frustration in the Asian financial hub, draining public support.
  
  China rules Hong Kong under a "one country, two systems" formula that accords the city a degree of autonomy and freedom not enjoyed in mainland China, with universal suffrage an eventual goal.
  
  But Beijing has said only candidates screened by a nomination committee will be able to contest a full city-wide vote to choose the next chief executive in 2017.
  
  Leung said this week there was "zero chance" China's leaders would give in to protesters' demands and change an August decision limiting democracy. The protesters want Leung to step down.
  
  The Hong Kong and Beijing governments have called the protests illegal. Some of the city's most powerful tycoons had earlier warned that occupying the heart of the city to press for democracy could undermine stability.
  
  They have remained largely silent since the protests began.
  
  China's most senior official in Hong Kong, Zhang Xiaoming, hosted a dinner with pro-Beijing lawmakers.
  
  According to Hong Kong's public broadcaster RTHK, he repeated statements made by other officials that the unrest had parallels with a "color revolution", a reference to movements in other countries which forced governments from office.
  
  
  
  ATTRITION
  
  By noon on Tuesday, the Queensway Road thoroughfare was open and traffic, including school and tour buses, streamed into the Central business district that is home to global companies such as HSBC Holdings and Standard Chartered.
  
  A main city tram line was also open again and trams were clattering through the district.
  
  "Police have done a good job this time. The traffic is much better now, at least vehicles can move steadily compared with the past week when you couldn't move at all," said Luk Wai-lam, a taxi driver in his 60s.
  
  There had been fears of trouble on Wednesday, with anti-protest taxi and truck drivers setting a deadline for the barricades to go. But a representative of a taxi drivers' group told Reuters on Tuesday his members had no plan for action.
  
  Police, criticized for using tear gas and batons in the first 24 hours of the protests, have adopted a more patient approach, counting on protesters to come under public pressure to clear main arteries. In recent days, police have selectively removed some barriers on the fringes of protest sites.
  
  The number of protesters has fallen off sharply from a peak of about 100,000 at three sites, but observers believe they will sit it out.
  
  "I don't think the protesters, having suffered tear gas, endured the attacks by the anti-occupy people, I don't think they will just surrender unconditionally and leave," said Joseph Wong, political analyst at the University of Hong Kong.
  
  Police said clearing of the barricades was aimed at easing congestion and the protesters could stay, which suggested a strategy of attrition. About 100 activists staged a sit-in outside the Admiralty Centre shopping complex surrounded by scores of police.
  
  Many students believed Monday's clashes were co-ordinated and involved triad criminal groups and people paid to cause trouble, and they reinforced their barricades on Monday night, putting up bamboo scaffolding along one thoroughfare.
  
  They also poured concrete over the foundations of their road blocks and placed bamboo spears in their barricades.
  
  But police swept it all away on Tuesday.
  
  
  
  (Additional reporting by Bobby Yip, Carlos Barria and Clare Baldwin, Writing by Anne Marie Roantree and John Ruwitch; Editing by Michael Perry and Mike Collett-White)

 

[vietnamese_sausage]

the civil unrest is only restricted to a very small part of HK.
Mainland is not affected at all
The HK police ihas already cleared some of the roads and I think more to come in the next few days

Hong Kong police use sledgehammers, chainsaws to clear protest barriers, open road
BY JAMES POMFRET AND DONNY KWOK

HONG KONG Tue Oct 14, 2014 3:01pm EDT

8 COMMENTS

• Tweet
• View attachment 135076
  1 OF 12. Police remove a barricade left by pro-democracy protesters on a main road leading to the financial Central district in Hong Kong October 14, 2014.
  
  CREDIT: REUTERS/BOBBY YIP
  
  
  
  View attachment 135077
  Bringing down the barricades
  Hong Kong police remove the barricades erected by protesters. Slideshow
  
  RELATED NEWS
  • China won't cede to HK protests, army used only as last resort-sources
  
  ANALYSIS & OPINION
  • Once the hamburgers are gone, can a regime hold on?
  • Measuring political risk in emerging markets
  RELATED TOPICS
  • World »
  
  
  
  (Reuters) - Hundreds of Hong Kong police used sledgehammers and chainsaws on Tuesday to tear down barricades erected by pro-democracy protesters near government offices and the financial center, reopening a major road for the first time in two weeks.
  
  But late in the evening demonstrators retaliated by swarming into a tunnel on a major four-lane thoroughfare, bringing traffic to a halt and chanting for universal suffrage.
  
  Riot police tried to push them back with pepper spray and batons, according to a local news channel, but later retreated.
  
  "I think the government doesn't respect us," said Kevin Chan, a protester wearing a surgical mask and goggles covering his black glasses, as he stood behind a makeshift wall.
  
  "They have to talk to us and compromise, otherwise we won't stand down."
  
  Traffic flowed freely along Queensway Road after the protesters' obstructions were cleared early in the day, although other major protest sites remained intact in the Admiralty and Mong Kok districts and pro-democracy demonstrators were defiant.
  
  Police with chainsaws cut through bamboo defenses and others wielded sledgehammers to smash concrete blocks outside the Bank of China's Hong Kong headquarters and next to the office of Asia's richest man, Li Ka-shing.
  
  Office workers streamed onto the streets to watch.
  
  Unlike on Monday, when clashes erupted between anti-protest groups and pro-democracy activists after police removed blockades, there was no immediate confrontation as a result of Tuesday's operation.
  
  In the evening, however, hundreds of people made a surprise move to occupy the tunnel on Lung Wo Road, an important east-west artery near the offices of the Hong Kong government and legislature that had been intentionally left open to traffic for most of more than two weeks of protests.
  
  "The police took a road from us today and cleared away tents, so we're taking this road," said Kelvin Chor, one of the protesters.
  
  
  
  MORE BARRICADES GO UP
  
  After the police retreated, hundreds of demonstrators swiftly formed several lines of makeshift barricades, setting the stage for another possible flashpoint.
  
  On the road near the tunnel, a replica gravestone bearing a picture of the city's pro-Beijing leader, Leung Chun-ying, was erected with a message: "Even hell doesn't welcome you."
  
  The protesters, most of them students, are demanding full democracy for the former British colony, but their two-week campaign has caused traffic chaos and fueled frustration in the Asian financial hub, draining public support.
  
  China rules Hong Kong under a "one country, two systems" formula that accords the city a degree of autonomy and freedom not enjoyed in mainland China, with universal suffrage an eventual goal.
  
  But Beijing has said only candidates screened by a nomination committee will be able to contest a full city-wide vote to choose the next chief executive in 2017.
  
  Leung said this week there was "zero chance" China's leaders would give in to protesters' demands and change an August decision limiting democracy. The protesters want Leung to step down.
  
  The Hong Kong and Beijing governments have called the protests illegal. Some of the city's most powerful tycoons had earlier warned that occupying the heart of the city to press for democracy could undermine stability.
  
  They have remained largely silent since the protests began.
  
  China's most senior official in Hong Kong, Zhang Xiaoming, hosted a dinner with pro-Beijing lawmakers.
  
  According to Hong Kong's public broadcaster RTHK, he repeated statements made by other officials that the unrest had parallels with a "color revolution", a reference to movements in other countries which forced governments from office.
  
  
  
  ATTRITION
  
  By noon on Tuesday, the Queensway Road thoroughfare was open and traffic, including school and tour buses, streamed into the Central business district that is home to global companies such as HSBC Holdings and Standard Chartered.
  
  A main city tram line was also open again and trams were clattering through the district.
  
  "Police have done a good job this time. The traffic is much better now, at least vehicles can move steadily compared with the past week when you couldn't move at all," said Luk Wai-lam, a taxi driver in his 60s.
  
  There had been fears of trouble on Wednesday, with anti-protest taxi and truck drivers setting a deadline for the barricades to go. But a representative of a taxi drivers' group told Reuters on Tuesday his members had no plan for action.
  
  Police, criticized for using tear gas and batons in the first 24 hours of the protests, have adopted a more patient approach, counting on protesters to come under public pressure to clear main arteries. In recent days, police have selectively removed some barriers on the fringes of protest sites.
  
  The number of protesters has fallen off sharply from a peak of about 100,000 at three sites, but observers believe they will sit it out.
  
  "I don't think the protesters, having suffered tear gas, endured the attacks by the anti-occupy people, I don't think they will just surrender unconditionally and leave," said Joseph Wong, political analyst at the University of Hong Kong.
  
  Police said clearing of the barricades was aimed at easing congestion and the protesters could stay, which suggested a strategy of attrition. About 100 activists staged a sit-in outside the Admiralty Centre shopping complex surrounded by scores of police.
  
  Many students believed Monday's clashes were co-ordinated and involved triad criminal groups and people paid to cause trouble, and they reinforced their barricades on Monday night, putting up bamboo scaffolding along one thoroughfare.
  
  They also poured concrete over the foundations of their road blocks and placed bamboo spears in their barricades.
  
  But police swept it all away on Tuesday.
  
  
  
  (Additional reporting by Bobby Yip, Carlos Barria and Clare Baldwin, Writing by Anne Marie Roantree and John Ruwitch; Editing by Michael Perry and Mike Collett-White)

how long can this last? one day only a small crowd. than beeny tai make annoucenment, a few thousand come out to protest. than it dies down, than more protest. never ending story.

 

[Keel]

how long can this last? one day only a small crowd. than beeny tai make annoucenment, a few thousand come out to protest. than it dies down, than more protest. never ending story.

The people at large are suffering the pain of disturbance by the criminals on the streets
They are hated. They are the enemy of the society. They are the enemy of the HK People. Would they last any longer?

 

[vietnamese_sausage]

The people at large are suffering the pain of disturbance by the criminals on the streets
They are hated. They are the enemy of the society. They are the enemy of the HK People. Would they last any longer?

yes they will endure as long as the protestors are paid which most are . chinese here say protestors are foreign funded. foreigners have money

 

[terranMarine]

wishful thinking

 

[Keel]

yes they will endure as long as the protestors are paid which most are . chinese here say protestors are foreign funded. foreigners have money

They are a small group of perpetrators
HK just needs bigger prisons to jail the criminals who have been robbing 7 million law abiding people of their normal life for over 2 weeks

 

[terranMarine]

If the police can't handle it, i welcome the hard approach by the pla

 

[vietnamese_sausage]

They are a small group of perpetrators
HK just needs bigger prisons to jail the criminals who have been robbing 7 million law abiding people of their normal life for over 2 weeks

that isn't going to happen. we both know that.

 

[Keel]

that isn't going to happen. we both know that.

Well it is the criminals' choice of whether they will throw away their future living on the streets or go back to schools and companies from where to build their careers

The world is unforgiving. The environment is unfriendly. How long will these criminals stay on the streets with constant threats and assaults of pepper sprays, police batons and changing weather. They are rendering themselves uncompetitive in the job market

Hongkong is not a place where people are deprived of job opportunities, education, foods, water, electricity or suffering from discrimination and having a corrupt government