HONG KONG — Hundreds of angry pro-democracy protesters returned to occupy streets in Hong Kong’s Mong Kok neighborhood on Friday night after the police removed roadblocks at the sit-in site early in the morning.
Police used pepper spray and batons as they sought to disperse demonstrators who stormed across barricades in a bid to enlarge the protest area.
The Hong Kong Federation of Students, a key student group supporting the protests, said that demonstrators were being pepper-sprayed by police at close range. A number of protesters were arrested, local media reported. Clashes between police and protesters lasted for hours but officers appeared to back away from confrontations by midnight.
The Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club said Getty photographer Paula Bronstein was detained while covering the protests and called for her immediate release.
The club said police had threatened other journalists at the scene, including one who was told he would be hit with a baton if he crossed the road. “These tactics are a flagrant violation of the media’s right to report the unfolding story,” the club said in a statement. “We demand … an end to such intimidation.”
The pro-democracy movement Occupy Central with Peace and Love released a statement during the day condemning the police move to clear barricades, tents and other items out of occupied streets in Mong Kok. The group said the step — coming less than 24 hours after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying offered to hold talks with protest leaders — highlighted Leung’s “insincerity” and added that the move would only create obstacles to dialogue with students.
“Police removed barricades in Mong Kok 15 hours after Leung Chun-ying said engaging in dialogue didn’t mean the government would not clear the protest sites. We think it amounts to an open insult to the intelligence of Hong Kong people,” Occupy Central said in a statement.
“If (the government) continues to clear protest sites gradually under the disguise of removing barricades, it would only provoke more people to take to streets.”
The demonstrations began nearly three weeks ago to denounce rules for the territory’s chief executive election in 2017. The rules, imposed by authorities in Beijing, would limit candidates to two or three people approved by a special committee packed with pro-establishment figures.
Jin Zhong, a Hong Kong-based political commentator, said Hong Kong authorities may be under pressure from Communist Party officials in Beijing to clear protesters from the streets by Monday, when a high-level party gathering begins in the capital.
Chinese President Xi Jinping “has never commented on Hong Kong once in any of his recent public appearances,” he said. “But what we’ve heard is that their internal plan was to restore ‘social order’ before the plenum kicks off. Whenever there’s a Communist Party plenum, it’s about their face — and they don’t want to destroy their face.”
Early Friday in Mong Kok the northbound lanes of Nathan Road were reopened to traffic, but demonstrators soon gathered and staged a sit-in on southbound lanes, wearing masks and goggles for protection.
Matt Gan, a protester who witnessed the early-morning police operation, said most demonstrators were sleeping when the police started to remove the barricades, confiscated their tents and threw away their belongings.
“I am surprised that the police again used violence against our peaceful protests and think their violence can force us to leave,” said Gan. “The government just doesn’t get it. They didn’t really take a deep look at why we went to the streets in the very first place.”
Another student protester, surnamed Leung, said police significantly outnumbered protesters when officers tore down barriers but said he was determined to reoccupy the area.
Wong Yeung-tat, founder of the activist group Civic Passion, who has been among the protesters, said the demonstrators felt a strong sense of betrayal by the government.
“The police keep saying that they are just clearing out the barriers, but they are lying; they are in fact kicking us out,” said Wong. “So we are trying our best to mobilize more people back here to join and reoccupy the site.”
The Federation of Students urged supporters to “unite and defend our occupy areas” and called on Leung Chun-ying’s administration to start the promised talks no later than Wednesday.
Mong Kok shop owners around the congested area were forced to close again as protesters clogged up sidewalks.
Simon Wong, a salesman in a nearby jewelry shop, said business has been down by 50 percent since the protests started.
“I am not against the students, I know they are fighting for the common good,” said Wong, “but a three-week standoff is just too much.”