Statement urges occupiers to leave area around government buildings before planned clearance of streets on Tuesday

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Hong Kong police have announced that they are preparing to start clearing pro-democracy protesters from part of the core zone of demonstrations on Tuesday.

In a statement released late on Monday they urged occupiers to leave Admiralty, where they are blocking roads around government buildings.

The unprecedented outburst of civil disobedience drew tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents at the peak of the movement. Protests began in late September but gained a momentum of their own after police arrested student demonstrators, and then tried to control the crowds who arrived in support of those detained with tear gas and pepper spray.

That experience has made authorities more cautious about how to approach the clearance of protesters, though numbers have dwindled to the hundreds and public support has ebbed. A poll by the Chinese University of Hong Kong found that more residents now opposed the demonstrations than supported them.

The police statement refers only to the court order passed to clear access to the Citic Tower at Admiralty, at the request of the building owners. That covers at least parts of two streets but not the main road occupied by protesters.

But similar court orders have been issued or are being sought for other roads and an unnamed police source told the South China Morning Post that a secondary protest site at Mongkok is likely to be cleared this week.

“Police are ready to give the fullest support to the bailiffs to execute the court order tomorrow,” the statement said.

“Police urge the illegal road occupiers to obey the court order, remove obstacles and personal belongings, and stop the illegal occupation soonest.”

The judgment authorised bailiffs to remove obstructions and police to arrest those hindering them.

Police vowed resolute action against anyone hindering or “violently charging” the bailiffs.

Hong Kong enjoys far greater freedoms than the mainland under the “one country, two systems” framework introduced when the former British colony was handed back in 1997. Beijing has said it will implement its promise of universal suffrage for the election of the next chief executive in 2017, but protesters say it is “fake” democracy because the candidates will be tightly controlled by a committee stacked with Beijing loyalists. They have demanded open nominations and the resignation of the unpopular chief executive, Leung Chun-ying.

Underlying their immediate complaints is a broader concern that Hong Kong’s freedoms and culture are being eroded.

Earlier, Amnesty International said it feared the crackdown against mainland activists who supported the protests had intensified, following reports that a Guangzhou activist has been formally arrested for inciting subversion. The charge carries a jail sentence of up to five years.

Wang Mo, a well known online campaigner, was initially held on suspicion of the lesser charge of “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” after he was photographed with three others holding a banner supporting the Hong Kong demonstrators. One was released earlier this month; the other two, Sun Tao and Xie Wenfei, remain in detention.

“Any harassment of activists for peacefully supporting Hong Kong protests is shameful but the serious charge of inciting subversion brought against Wang is an extremely alarming development,” said William Nee, China researcher at Amnesty International.

The group said that more than 100 activists in mainland China have been detained since the start of the Hong Kong protests, with at least 33 thought to remain in detention.

The latest survey from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, which has assessed opinion monthly since the demonstrations started, found that 67.4% of Hong Kong residents thought protesters should clear the streets. Support for the protest had fallen to 33.9%, with 43.5% of people saying they were against it.

But about 40% of those surveyed felt the government’s response had been inadequate and nearly half – 48.5% – said the government needed to make concessions. Just over 1,000 people were interviewed.

Prior to the protests, only 31% supported plans for civil disobedience while 46% opposed. But after they broke out, support rose to 38%, with only 35% not supporting.