A pro-democracy protester, center, hanging onto a barricade in the Admiralty district as he confronts opponents of the Occupy Central demonstrations.
Tyrone Siu/Reuters
HONG KONG — Hundreds of people opposed to the pro-democracy demonstrations here attacked the protesters’ main camp on Monday, trying to tear down street barricades that have choked traffic in the city. The police struggled to keep the two sides apart, but warned that they, too, were determined to clear the roadblocks over the protesters’ objections.
The confrontation in the Admiralty district, near where the protests first spilled onto Hong Kong’s streets over two weeks ago, magnified the volatile political divisions in the city, pitting the mostly young demonstrators against residents who say they are fed up with disruptions brought by the protests or who are loyal to Beijing, which opposes the demands for full democratic elections for Hong Kong’s leader.
For the Chinese government, wary of democratic demands from Hong Kong, a former British colony, the tensions have become entangled in ideological rivalry with the West. The main state-run news agency, Xinhua, has amplified accusations that the protests demanding sweeping electoral change were the handiwork of the United States government.
Map: Areas of Skirmishes and Protests in Hong Kong
On Monday, opponents of the pro-democracy sit-in converged on barricades at two ends of Queensway, a traffic artery through Admiralty that the protesters had sealed off, and began pulling apart barriers, mostly portable steel railings tied together, which the demonstrators had assembled to put pressure on the government and to protect their camp. Earlier, opponents of the “Occupy” protests had gathered in a nearby park, and some opponents had chanted in Cantonese, “Open the road, open the road,” while groups of men dismantled some of the makeshift roadblocks.
The police arrested three people on assault charges over their roles in the afternoon confrontation on Queensway. The chief police spokesman, Hui Chun-tak, did not say which side those arrested were on.
“They are not looking after the interests of the Hong Kong people,” said Yang Xiuyun, a 60-year-old woman from the northern side of Hong Kong who said she had come to try to help open the roads. When two men nearby loudly accused the United States government of instigating the protests, Ms. Yang said she agreed.
Hours before the confrontation between the rival crowds, police officers took the protest camp by surprise and began removing some barricades on major avenues in Admiralty and Central, the city’s main business district, in a predawn operation that opened at least one important artery but left the protest camp untouched.
Mr. Hui urged demonstrators on both sides to stay calm. At a news conference, he said the police were prepared to remove more of the protest barriers themselves, a move that could rekindle tensions with the pro-democracy camps, which have also occupied two other districts in the city: Mong Kok and Causeway Bay.
In Hong Kong, Deflated Hopes for Change
As the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong recede, one young woman reflects on the outcome and how it forced her to confront the inequities she sees every day.
Video by Jonah M. Kessel on October 6, 2014. Photo by Ed Jones/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images.
The police “will not eliminate the possibility of using the minimum of force necessary,” with arrests possibly resulting as well, Mr. Hui said. The “police will restore the public order — soon,” he said with a pause.
Nathan Law, a member of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of university student groups that have led the protests, said in an interview that the democracy demonstrators would not retreat from their encampments, despite the conflict.
“We need more people to watch our barriers,” he said. “We need reinforcement here so at least we can form human chains to protect our barriers from these anti-Occupy protesters.”
The confrontation with the protest opponents sent a shiver of fear through the main protest camp on nearby Harcourt Road. A speaker on stage in the camp urged parents to keep their children safe. Some of the opponents appeared to be groups of elderly residents acting at the orders of younger organizers, and some of the men who attacked the barricades appeared to be part of well-organized gangs, said pro-democracy demonstrators.
“Two malicious forces on Queensway are stirring trouble, dismantling our barriers, destroying our tents, even medical stations,” said the speaker. “Please take care of the minors.”
What Prompted the Hong Kong Protests?
Hong Kong belongs to China and operates under a policy of “one country, two systems.”
Outside Pacific Place, a high-end mall on Queensway, the opponents of the protesters’ blockade used a crane mounted on a large truck to pull apart a barrier until the police arrived and tried to ease tensions. A group of people wearing blue ribbons — the insignia of those opposed to the pro-democracy sit-ins — also destroyed a supply station for the protesters.
The police formed a cordon to keep apart the pro-democracy demonstrators and their opponents, who began dispersing. By midafternoon, the confrontations on the street appeared to ease and hundreds of police officers guarded the remaining barriers and kept an eye on the crowd, which included many workers from nearby offices.
But the rival crowds continued to mill around as the working day drew to a close. Several hundred demonstrators and bystanders gathered outside Pacific Place, and pro-democracy demonstrators chanted “get off work” to their opponents, whom they accused of being paid to protest. The crowd later dispersed.
China has promised that, by 2017, Hong Kong voters will have the opportunity to vote for the city’s leader, or chief executive. But the government has rejected a call for open nominations, instead demanding that candidates be approved by at least half the members of a committee dominated by people loyal to Beijing.
Instead, the Chinese Communist Party has said the unrest in Hong Kong has been fomented by foes of party rule, acting in concert with Western forces, especially the United States government, a claim that American government officials have adamantly rejected. On Monday, a video commentary issued by Xinhua continued those accusations, likening the unrest to “color revolutions” across former Soviet bloc countries that Chinese officials say were hatched by Washington.
The Voice of a Hong Kong Student Leader
A look at the fears and motivations driving the anti-Beijing protests in Hong Kong.
Video by Jonah M. Kessel and Mona El-Naggar on September 30, 2014. Photo by Bobby Yip/Reuters.
The United States “has engaged in substantial interventionist activities in Hong Kong,” said the commentary. “The goal is to transfer their experience with so-called color revolutions to Hong Kong.”
The current Hong Kong chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, said on Sunday that the protesters have “almost nil” chance of forcing Beijing to abandon its election rules, and he accused the student-led movement of being “out of control.” On Monday, Mr. Leung told reporters that he wanted life in Hong Kong to return to normal as soon as possible, but set no time for ending the sit-ins and road blockades.
Supporters of the pro-democracy occupation said that the men attempting to break the traffic blockade appeared to include members of “triads,” the local organized crime gangs, as well as truck and taxi drivers. But a good number of those supporting the attempted road clearance were ordinary residents.
The confrontation was not the first time that supporters and opponents of the street protests have clashed. On Oct. 3, groups of men attacked a protest camp in Mong Kok, and the police arrested 19 men, including eight suspected of belonging to triads.
Lucy Tse, 52, said that she had been trapped in her home in east Hong Kong Island since the street protests broke out two weeks ago, and she lamented that she had to take the train instead of getting around in her Mercedes-Benz E-Class.
“This is a public space for all Hong Kong people, not just for the students, not just for the government,” she said. “These Hong Kong students are spoiled.
Into the evening, protesters around Admiralty began strengthening and expanding road barriers, using bus stop signs, bamboo, wooden pallets, portable metal railing and large, hollow plastic road barriers that they filled with water.
Correction: October 13, 2014
An earlier version of this article misstated the given name of a woman who tried to open the roads. She is Yang Xiuyun, not Yang Xiuyin.
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