Hong Kong protests: Police begin arrests as Admiralty site cleared
Hong Kong police have begun arresting protesters who are refusing to leave the main protest camp, after more than two months of demonstrations.
The authorities had warned protesters to leave ahead of the operation at Admiralty camp, but some vowed to stay.
Many left as bailiffs began taking down barricades but police are now arresting dozens who have stayed behind.
The number of protesters had fallen to a few hundred, from the tens of thousands who turned out in September.
Police began building up their presence for what is being widely seen as the final act in the long-running protests at the Admiralty site during the early morning.
Police officers started to clear the camp and dismantle tents after issuing orders for protesters to vacate the "occupied area" within 30 minutes or face arrest.
As police approached the last remaining protesters, Alex Chow, head of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, rallied the crowds, saying the fight was not over, AP reports.
Meanwhile, a dozen people who opposed the protests turned up to cheer on the police, the South China Morning Post reports.
Earlier in the morning, bailiffs read out a final warning to protesters shortly before workers, backed by police, moved in and began dismantling barricades in one section of the site, using box cutters to remove ties.
The protesters want Beijing to allow free elections for the territory's next leader in 2017. China says everyone can vote but a pro-Beijing committee will screen candidates.
This is probably one of the most photographed evictions in global history. Hundreds of journalists and photographers have been crowding around each barricade as it is methodically taken apart by the team of white-helmeted workers employed by the bailiffs.
From one elaborately-constructed blockade I watched them pull bamboo scaffold poles, concrete blocks and a bus stop. The hand-written protest banner above it all read; It's just the beginning.
There may yet be pockets of resistance but this chapter of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement is surely coming to an end. Police say all the tents, banners and art work along this half-mile stretch of highway will be swept away by midnight tonight.
Credit: The BBC
