Hong Kong clears protest camp

More than 50 days after pro-democracy demonstrations began in Hong Kong, bailiffs began evicting the protesters camped out in front of Citic Tower in Admiralty. Protesters calmly obeyed orders, many merely moving their tents to other protests sites that remain.

While international media has largely moved on from Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution, a few hundred protesters continue to stand their ground in three protest sites, claiming they will stay until their demand for full democracy in Hong Kong is realized. In August, Beijing announced a pro-China committee would select the two or three candidates on the ballot for the 2017 election for the territory’s chief executive.

But others in the financial hub of Asia are tired of the makeshift tent cities blocking traffic. The owners of the 33-story Citic Tower complained and received a court injunction to clear out the protesters stationed in front of their building. Protesters chose the location because of the government buildings lining the street. The court has also issued an injunction for the protest site in Mong Kok after complaints from a taxi drivers’ association and a minibus company.

The public tide has turned against the demonstrations as protesters seem to have little to show for nearly two months of demonstrations. A Chinese University of Hong Kong opinion poll in early November showed 67 percent of respondents thought the protesters should leave the streets. Chief Secretary Carrie Lam said she would not hold any more talks with the students, and Chinese authorities stymied an attempt by student leaders to meet with officials in Beijing. When three members of the Hong Kong Federation of Students arrived at the airport, Chinese officials cancelled their permits to the mainland.

“Tycoons were allowed to go to Beijing before,” said student leader Alex Chow in a press conference. “Why would they be scared of just three students?”

Mainland China has much to fear from these students, as they worry ideas of democracy could spread to their own cities. Government censors worked overtime to silence news about the protests, and officials have detained more than 100 mainland activists since the Hong Kong protests began, according to Amnesty International. The activists’ “crimes” include shaving their heads in solidarity with protesters, posting pictures online supportive of the protests, and planning to travel to Hong Kong to join in. At least 33 remain in detention.

Amnesty International urged world leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, to press Chinese President Xi Jinping to release the activists during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperative (APEC) summit last week. Instead, Obama distanced himself from the protests, encouraging Xi to allow free elections but stating that “these issues are ultimately for the people of Hong Kong and people of China to decide.”

Many of the remaining protesters are students, and the study found young people in Hong Kong are still supportive of the movement. Yet a recent article in the U.K.’s The Telegraph highlighted a number of elderly protesters who have stuck it out for the long haul. Having lived through the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square, they remain committed to standing with the students in the fight for democracy.

“I’m here because God taught me about justice,” Lucy Tang, a 70-year-old resident of Kowloon, told The Telegraph.