protest opponents try to tear down Hong Kong barricades

Hong Kong  Rowdy scenes erupted at the main Occupy Central protest site in Hong Kong on Monday after hundreds of people opposing the pro-democracy occupation tried to tear down protest barricades.

Police formed a human chain to separate the protesters and people intent on breaking up their three-week long occupation of the Admiralty district, near the city's financial center.

Dozens of men, some wearing surgical masks, were seen jostling with protesters and demanding that police remove the barricades and clear the roads, according to live images from local television station iCable.

They were heard screaming at protesters, accusing them of damaging their livelihoods. The television commentator identified them as taxi drivers, transport industry workers and other people who said they weren't affiliated with any groups.

However, protesters could be heard yelling, "there are triads here," a reference to criminal gangs in the city known for controlling smuggling, prostitution and illegal gambling rings.

Police on loudspeakers called for calm, and eventually convinced protesters to form a corridor to allow their opponents to leave.

Earlier, police started to remove barricades from protest sites in Admiralty and Mong Kok, but issued a statement saying they were moving "obstacles" to relieve traffic "not to clear the scene."

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Police "pushed back a couple of barricades, dismantling them," said 's Ivan Watson, from the Admiralty protest site. He said the protesters had responded by moving their tents closer to the barrier but the streets had remained peaceful.

 

At the peak of the protests, which started in late September, tens of thousands of demonstrators crowded onto the streets demanding a greater say in how the city is run.

Protesters have been guarding barricades erected at the protest sites, and for many nights slept in the open air on bitumen before the arrival of reinforcements with tents on the weekend.

Traffic in the other parts of the city has been clogged due to road closures, bus and tram cancellations and the need for cars to drive around the protest sites. Taxi drivers say their takings are down, and businesses have claimed the protests have cost them income.

 

While protest numbers dwindled towards the end of last week, they started building again over the weekend when protest leaders called for reinforcements after the government called off talks planned for Friday.

          First live address

Over the weekend, Hong Kong Chief Executive C.Y. Leung made his first live address since protesters blocked key routes through the city. Speaking on local free-to-air station TVB, Leung said the protests were not a "revolution," but a "mass movement that has spun out of control."

He said student leaders had "almost zero chance" of pushing Beijing to chance its stance on how Hong Kong's leader is elected. He added he would not accede to the protesters' demands that he resign, because his resignation "will not solve the problem."according to cnn