Protest 'caused city huge loss'

Hundreds of Hong Kong police officers, many armed with riot shields and wielding pepper spray, early yesterday morning dragged away dozens of protesters from an underpass after tearing down barricades and removing concrete slabs used as road blocks.

The police operation came hours after a large group of protesters blockaded the underpass, expanding their protest zone after being cleared from other streets. The protesters outnumbered the police officers, who later returned with reinforcements to clear the area.

The underpass borders the city government headquarters and is a short walk from the main protest zone straddling a highway on the opposite side of the complex. Demonstrators appeared to storm the tunnel in reaction to police attempts over the past two days to chip away at barricades on the edges of the sprawling protest zone.

Police said they had to disperse the protesters because they were disrupting public order and gathering illegally. They arrested 45 people during the clashes, in which four officers were reportedly injured.

"I have to stress here that even though protesters raised their hands in their air it does not mean it was a peaceful protest," said police spokesman Tsui Wai-Hung.

He said some protesters kicked the officers and attacked them with umbrellas.

Hong Kong's Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok told the legislators that there were no alternatives but to use tear gas to prevent the demonstrators from further clashes with the police.

There were chaotic scenes during the clear-out operation as officers scuffled with demonstrators, wrestled some to the ground and forced others off the road. Police had to fire pepper spray during violent clashes with the protesters.

As for a video clip showing police officers who used " inappropriate" force against an arrested person, Lai said the Complaints Against Police Office, which has received a relevant complaint, will investigate the incident in a fair manner and in accordance with established procedures. Police will also investigate the complain.

Meanwhile, Secretary for Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Raymond Tam said the government is liaising with the Federation of Students, one of the major organizers of the protests, to reopen talks on constitutional development through a middleman.

Tam said the government's responsibility is to implement the 2017 Chief Executive election by universal suffrage and on that basis the government is open to dialogue with the community.

The student-led protesters are now into their third week of occupying key parts of the city. They oppose plans for an election committee to screen candidates to run in Hong Kong's first direct elections to choose a chief executive in 2017. They also want the current chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, to resign.

Zhang Xiaoming, director of the central government's liaison office in Hong Kong, was quoted as telling Hong Kong legislators at a banquet Tuesday that the protest movement "is a serious social and political incident."

Zhang said the protests had caused the city to suffer huge economic losses, undermined livelihoods and "hurt the basis of Hong Kong's rule of law, democratic development, social harmony, international image and its relations with the mainland."

Zhang called for an end to the protests as soon as possible to avoid further losses to Hong Kong's citizenry as a whole.

A front-page editorial published yesterday in the People's Daily said the protests "are doomed to fail."

"Facts and history tell us that radical and illegal acts that got their way only result in more severe illegal activities, exacerbating disorder and turmoil," the commentary said.

"Stability is bliss, and turmoil brings havoc," it said.

Meanwhile, a number of Hong Kong residents went to the Hong Kong police headquarters in Wanchai yesterday afternoon to express their support for the clear-out operation, as well as calling for more action to reopen traffic routes.

The residents appealed for an end to the protests, saying the protesters have already seriously interfered with their life, and they stressed that participants of the Occupy Central movement should not resort to illegal means for democracy.