MOSCOW, October 17 (RIA Novosti) - Hong Kong police has cleared up the barricades at the Occupy protest site on Friday in a surprise operation and reduced the site, freeing up a main road to traffic.
"Tents, bamboo and other makeshift barricades were taken down before protesters could make any resistance," Xinhua reported. The operation started early in the morning and involved hundreds of police officers.
According to the police Senior Superintendent Catherine Kwan, the operation went smoothly and peacefully, bringing life in the Mong Kok area of the Yau Tsim Mong District of Hong Kong back to normal.
On Thursday, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying expressed hope that the government would not let protests in the Chinese Special Administrative Region continue following a surge in violence between demonstrators and police.
Protests in Hong Kong calling for free elections in 2017 and for Leung Chun-ying to step down have lasted some three weeks. Demonstrators claim China has gone back on its pledge to allow universal suffrage in Hong Kong, with Beijing insisting on screening election candidates.
