Democracy 3 - Lege et les Viewers #2-2 - Legalisation Cannabis
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Workers dismantle barricades built by pro-democracy demonstrators at the main protest site in the Admiralty district in Hong Kong on December 11, 2014. DALE de la REY/AFP/Getty Images
HONG KONG -- Hong Kong authorities started clearing barricades Thursday from a pro-democracy protest camp spread across a busy highway as part of a final push to retake streets occupied by activists for two and a half months.
Watched by police, workers in white helmets used box cutters and pliers to remove plastic ties from the barricades, which were made up of metal and plastic safety barriers topped with traffic cones and scaffolding poles. They then passed parts of the barricades to co-workers who quickly shuffled them away to the side of the road.
The protesters reject Beijing's restrictions on the first election for the city's top leader, scheduled for 2017, but have failed to win any concessions from Hong Kong's government, and the movement's momentum has faded recently as the government stuck to its apparent strategy of waiting the protesters out.
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Pro-democracy protestors fill Hong Kong's streets
Politics student Max Leung, 22, said he felt sad to see the barricades removed and would stay until police cleared the area. He said he was willing to be arrested but would not resist officers.
"We redefined the public space," Leung said at his tent set up within the zone. "It was supposed to be just cars and now we occupy it, we have a study area for students in the middle of the highway, people here they care about each other."
The workers were carrying out a court restraining order calling for barriers to be dismantled and obstructions removed from three sections of the protest site. Police then plan to move in to clear other blocked sections of road so that traffic can start flowing again.
The operation will be under close scrutiny with a group of about 30 academics monitoring the operation, along with the Independent Police Complaints Council and human rights groups.
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Hong Kong police start clearing main pro-democracy protest camp
Hong Kong authorities prepared on Thursday to clear part of the city's main pro-democracy protest site that has choked roads leading to the most economically and politically important district for more than two months over calls for free elections.
The mainly peaceful protests have represented the most serious challenge to China's authority since the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations and bloody crackdown in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
Hundreds of police arrived in the Admiralty district next to government buildings early on Thursday to help enforce an injunction order against street barricades erected by protesters after a request from a Hong Kong bus company.
Many protesters packed up pillows, blankets and other belongings from inside their tents as they prepared to leave.
"Some of my friends are prepared to stay till the last moment, but I will walk away," said 20-year-old student Lucy Tang. "I will for sure miss this place. It has become my home."
A large yellow banner bearing an umbrella and the words "We'll be back" was draped in the center of the highway where protesters have camped out, with similar messages scrawled on roads and posted on tents.
Next to a base of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in the heart of the city, a huge orange banner erected across barricades said: "It's just the beginning."
People at some supply stations were bracing for possible clashes with police, laying out boxes of goggles and umbrellas for students to protect themselves against any use of pepper spray or batons.
The Admiralty site has stood as a poignant symbol of calls for democracy that have been spurned by the government and Communist Party rulers in Beijing.
Hundreds of tents have dotted the eight-lane highway that connects some of the city's most important financial and commercial districts since late September.
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Hong Kong prepares to clear main pro-democracy protest site
This is, for sure, definitely not the end of the movement, Alex Chow, a leader from the Hong Kong Federation of Students, told The Telegraph. This mornings act is only part of the movement.
As police pushed slowly towards the heart of the protest camp where the so-called Umbrella Movement began in late September tearful protesters began clearing the multicoloured tents in which some have lived for weeks.
It is my birthday today but it is also the saddest birthday in my life, said Benjamin Ng, a 44-year-old church worker. I feel very conflicted about what to do today I want to sit down and be arrested but I know my family worry about me and I also want to study in the UK at some point so I had better not be arrested.
Rose Tang, a student activist during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests said she had flown in from New York to witness the Hong Kong demonstrations up close.
This has been the most special camping trip I have ever been on, Ms Tang said.
It has been a meaningful journey, said Connie Mak, a 20-year-old student protester. We are only moving to the next stage of resistance.
The Umbrella Movement began in late September after calls for Beijing to give Hong Kong citizens a greater say in the election of their leader triggered street protests and clashes with police. The movement, which at its peak drew more than 100,000 people onto the streets, was named after the instrument protesters used to shield themselves from police pepper spray and tear gas.
Seventy-five days after the movement began, students have been unable to squeeze concessions out of officials in either Beijing or Hong Kong. Pro-Beijing media have described the campaign as an abject failure.
The government had been prudent in responding to the illegal movement and had ultimately won, said Zou Pingxue, a Chinese law professor who has been widely quoted criticising protestors in the mainland media.
The only success of this movement that I can think of is that it has taught residents of Hong Kong that trying to pursue democracy out of the normal legal framework is not real democracy, added Prof Zou, from Shenzhen University. It is impossible to attain the highest level [of democracy] in just one step.
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