Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong arrested, produced in court
27 Nov 2014
Prominent student leader Joshua Wong and other activists were produced in a Hong Kong court today to face charges of obstructing bailiffs, BBC reported.
The protesters had been detained since Tuesday as violent clashes broke out over the clearance of the Mong Kok protest site by authorities.
The site's key section, Nathan Road was now open to traffic, but activists had vowed to continue their protests.
Protest camps remain at Admiralty and Causeway Bay remained open.
According to local media reports, 31 activists including Wong, fellow student activist Lester Shum and lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung, popularly known as Long Hair, were among 31 activists who were produced at Kowloon City Court this morning.
Wong and Leung had been banned from entering Mong Kok as part of their bail conditions.
Over 140 pro-democracy protesters in Mong Kok were arrested this week as they resisted police efforts to clear the site. Authorities sought to clear the site after a high court granted injunctions.
Last night hundreds of protesters attempted to retake Nathan Road, with some protestors sustaining injuries in the resulting clashes.
The stand-off continued till the early hours of this morning when the police dispersed the crowd.
The protesters are demanding open nominations for the city's next chief executive election in 2017, while Beijing says it would allow a vote, only from among pre-approved candidates, Reuters reported.
The streets of Mong Kok had been a key battleground for protesters and mobs intent on disbanding them.
While the protesters re-grouped and take to the streets, they ultimately failed to penetrate the strong police force armed with pepper spray and batons deployed to defend the major traffic intersections.
The action came as the second instance in two weeks that police, court bailiffs and workers moved to enforce court-ordered injunctions to clear the streets.
The removal of the protesters' barricades, tents and furniture is seen as a major blow to the movement which had been trying to wrest greater political freedom from Beijing.
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