Hong Kong police have arrested more than 100 pro-democracy activists protesting against the removal of street barriers.
The incident occurred after a local court ordered the reopening of a Kowloon street blocked since protests began early in October. The trouble began after about 100 people returned to the street in the evening to block traffic in an act of defiance. Police attempted to remove the protesters by using pepper spray, batons and even direct force. When the protesters retaliated police made arrests. Another wave of arrests were made this morning. Among those reported held were Joshua Wong and Lester Shum, the charismatic leaders of the student protest.
The protests began last month when young Hong Kong residents expressed anger at Beijing’s decision to vet nominees for the 2017 elections in the supposedly autonomous region. At the peak of the protests more than 100,000 people were estimated to have rallied against Beijing’s attempt to control the electoral process, but numbers have now dropped to just a few hundred. The hardcore protesters have vowed to not back down until they have freedom to nominate their own candidates. – Dan Stringer
Top photo from Pasu Au Yeung’s Flickr photostream.
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