HONG KONG
Protesters gathered at Hong Kong’s main protest site Wednesday for what is expected to be the final day before bailiffs and police move in to clear the tents, banners and art installations.
A solemn and sad ambience pervaded the site at Admiralty as demonstrators faced up to the end of a movement that has dominated life in the territory for 11 weeks.
"It's almost the same feeling as just before the handover," Kenny Lau said, referring to the 1997 transfer of sovereignty from Britain to China.
Lau and his girlfriend were among the thousands of demonstrators flocking to the encampment festooned with hundreds of pro-democracy banners and umbrella-themed art works amid intermittent shouts of "I want real universal suffrage!"
The sprawling site, which spans Connaught Road and several smaller roads, is where the protests began at the end of September. When it is taken apart on Thursday it will mark the end of an historic phase of the demonstrators' fight for free elections.
On Tuesday a High Court ruling ordering the clearance of three parts of the camp was published in local papers.
The protesters have to leave the area before 09.00 local time (01.00 GMT) on Thursday.
Some packed their belongings and tents and transported supplies away from the camp while others took a more defiant attitude, promising to remain to the last and resist the clearance with homemade shields.
There are fears violent confrontations could occur as police back court-appointed bailiffs clearing the site. Last month the clearance of the Mong Kok site across the harbor led to clashes and arrests.
Student leaders called on Hong Kong residents to come to the site Thursday morning to witness the clearance.
Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, the former colony’s second-ranked politician, criticized them in an interview on public broadcaster RTHK.
"Once the police operation is underway and knowing that there are some radical elements among the protesters, confrontations might become inevitable," she said. "So it is not advisable for more people to come back to Admiralty."
The pro-democracy drive has been dubbed the Umbrella Movement due to protesters’ use of umbrellas to defend themselves against pepper spray and batons.
The demonstrators are calling for a fully democratic election with open nominations for the territory's next leader, the chief executive, in 2017.
The Chinese government says it will allow "one man, one vote" suffrage but that candidates will have to be approved by a body loyal to Beijing.
Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule under a "one country, two systems" formula that promised a high degree of autonomy from Beijing, including universal suffrage.
The protests, which involved more than 100,000 people at their peak, are the biggest street demonstrations on Chinese soil since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
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