In Hong Kong, opponents scuffle with pro-democracy protesters

Opponents of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement stepped up their pressure Monday, scuffling with demonstrators and attempting to clear barricades near one of the main sit-in sites.

Hundreds of counter-demonstrators, including masked men, confronted pro-democracy protesters behind roadblocks on Queensway, a major traffic artery next to the sit-in site in the Admiralty area, which has been shut down for more than two weeks.

Dozens of taxi drivers joined the clash, honking their horns and demanding the occupiers open the road to traffic.

Police scrambled to separate the two groups. The counter-demonstrators urged the police to clear the barriers, chanting, “Open the roads.”

As police arrived in greater force, the masked men left the scene. Protesters suspect the group were triads — organized gang members who police have said have been active at the city’s other major protest site, Mong Kok.

At the same time, a truck with a mounted crane scooped up metal barriers and tents set up by demonstrators farther up Queensway.

It was unclear who was operating the truck. Associations of truck drivers said last week that they would clear barricades by Wednesday.

By late afternoon, students had reclaimed the road and began rebuilding barricades with steel railings, wooden planks and bamboo scaffolding.

Thousands of protesters remained at the Admiralty sit-in Monday night, many in brightly colored tents.

The clashes took place hours after police removed barricades blocking a key highway in Central, the financial district, in the early morning. Attempts to do the same in Mong Kok were met with stiffer resistance from the protesters, who were able to preserve some of their barricades.

“I think they were testing us,” said Jason Chan, a 20-year-old Hong Kong University student who was stationed next to a barricade on Queensway, reading an accounting textbook. Chan believes the police were trying to gauge how much resistance there would be if they decided to clear the entire sit-in site.

Police said they were not attempting to clear protesters Monday but trying to unblock sparsely occupied barricades on the fringes of the sit-in venues to relieve some of the traffic congestion caused by the demonstration.

“Protesters are urged to remove the road barriers as soon as possible and leave the scenes peacefully and orderly,” Hong Kong police said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, counter-demonstrators reportedly surrounded the offices of Apple Daily, a pro-democracy publication whose owner, Jimmy Lai, has been scorned by supporters of mainland Chinese rule. The counter-demonstrators were able disrupt the delivery of the newspaper Monday morning.

Hong Kong’s embattled chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, told reporters during a visit to Guangzhou, China, that the controversial decision to fire tear gas at demonstrators on Sept. 28 was not made by him but by a police commander.

He also said he saw no need to resign over a report last week that he received millions of dollars in undisclosed fees for helping an Australian engineering firm purchase a British property services company for which he had worked.

The government called off talks with protest leaders Friday and urged demonstrators in a statement Monday to relocate to four designated parks and promenades away from traffic.

One of the demonstration’s three leading groups, Occupy Central With Love and Peace, condemned the violence Monday against its supporters.

“We ask the occupiers to stand firm in defending the occupied area and support each other,” the group said in a statement. “We also ask you to stand by the principle of nonviolent disobedience in the face of the police’s clearance. We believe that the success of the movement hinges on our perseverance in the spirit of democracy, love and peace.”

Follow @dhpierson for news from Hong Kong.