Hong Kong protesters, police clash after Mong Kok sit-in site cleared

Police clashed with thousands of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong’s Mong Kok neighborhood early Saturday, leading to at least 26 arrests. Police said 15 officers were hurt in the fracas.

The confrontations were apparently fueled by protesters’ anger that police had cleared demonstrators out of Mong Kok streets early Friday, ending a sit-in that had blocked traffic for more than two weeks. The move seemed to galvanize supporters of the movement to return to the streets after work Friday.

Police used pepper spray and batons as they sought to disperse demonstrators who reoccupied key streets in the dense commercial district. Officers estimated that 9,000 people were in the area.

The Hong Kong Federation of Students, a key group supporting the protests, said demonstrators were being pepper-sprayed by police at close range.

Alex Chow, leader of the student group, confirmed to journalists that it would meet with government officials Tuesday, with five representatives from both sides taking part. The talks are to be broadcast live on local outlet RTHK.

The Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club, meanwhile, said Getty photographer Paula Bronstein had been detained while covering the protests; she was later released.

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 Love and Peace released a statement Friday condemning the police move to clear occupied streets in Mong Kok. The group said the step — coming less than 24 hours after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying offered to hold meet with protest leaders — highlighted Leung’s “insincerity” and would create obstacles to talks with students.

“We think it amounts to an open insult to the intelligence of Hong Kong people,” Occupy Central said. If the government “continues to clear protest sites gradually under the disguise of removing barricades, it would only provoke more people to take to the streets.”

The demonstrations began three weeks ago to denounce the rules for the territory’s 2017 election for chief executive. The rules, imposed by authorities in Beijing, limit the ballot to two or three candidates approved by a special committee packed with pro-establishment figures.

Jin Zhong, a Hong Kong-based political commentator, said Hong Kong authorities might be under pressure from Communist Party officials in mainland China to clear protesters from the streets by Monday, when a high-level party gathering begins in Beijing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping “has never commented on Hong Kong once in any of his recent public appearances,” Jin 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 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,” Gan said. “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, who gave the surname Leung, said police significantly outnumbered protesters when officers tore down barriers, but he 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,” Wong said. “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 filled the sidewalks.

Simon Wong, a salesman in a nearby jewelry shop, said business had fallen 50% since the protests started.

“I am not against the students, I know they are fighting for the common good,” Wong said, “but a three-week standoff is just too much.”

Special correspondent Hui reported from Hong Kong and Times staff writer Makinen from Beijing.

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