The area of an offshoot Occupy demonstration site was largely reduced with a main road freed up to traffic Friday morning following a large-scale removal of blockades erected by the police.

Hundreds of Hong Kong police officers were involved the operation which started at around 5:00 a.m. local time in Mong Kok, a protest site across the Victoria Harbor from the main demonstration areas near the region's government headquarters in Admiralty, catching the protesters by surprise.

Tents, bamboo and other makeshift barricades were taken down before protesters could make any resistance. The northbound lane of main thoroughfare Nathan Road was freed up to traffic at 8:00 a. m. local time when most of the blockades have been removed, While the southbound lane of the busy road remained occupied by protesters.

Police Senior Superintendent Catherine Kwan said the operation was carried out smoothly and peacefully, brining Mong Kok residents' lives back to normal. She called for the protesters to leave.

Shop owners are happy about the traffic resumption. A drug store owner said they had lost more than 80 percent of sales since the Occupy movement began, local media reported.

All bank branches that were previously affected by the protests resumed normal operation as of Friday noon, according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

Tensions had been escalated in the city with a few clashes breaking out between police and the protesters in the past few days after several police officers were seen kicking a hand-cuffed protester brutally in a video clip on Wednesday.

Hong Kong Secretary of Security Lai Tung-kwok told the legislators on Friday that he did not agree with the accusation of police abusing their power when dealing with the Occupy demonstrations. He stressed that they are decisive and impartial.

The police has been treating the protesters with the highest toleration, while individual incidents should not affect the assessment of the force, Lai said, referring to the allegation of officers beating the protester.

Around 30 members of the anti-Occupy "Blue Ribbon Movement" came to the Chinese University of Hong Kong on Friday to demand the university to deal with its employee Chan Kin-man, one of the Occupy Central organizers.

Over one hundred university students met and welcomed the anti- Occupy Campaign members at the gate. Campaign leader Leticia Lee announced the statement which criticized Chan's action of inciting students to take part in the illegal Occupy movement, and the statement was received by the representative of the university later.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying on Thursday announced resumption of talks with representatives of the Federation of Students, one of the major organizers of the movement, seeking to ease the standoff between students and the government.

Thousands of protesters, most of whom are students, joined the Occupy Central movement to express their discontent with the framework set by the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) on electing the region's next leader through universal suffrage.

According to Hong Kong Basic Law and top legislature's decisions, more than 5 million Hong Kong voters could have a say to who will become the chief executive in 2017 by the "one man, one vote" election, which had never been realized under the British colonial rule.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)