HONG KONG
Hong Kong authorities cleared the last main pro-democracy protest site Thursday and arrested hundreds of people who refused to leave after two-and-half months of demonstrations pressing for free elections.
Most demonstrators left the site in the district of Admiralty before a police-set deadline even though their demands for democracy in the former British colony had not been met.
But 209 protesters -- including a media mogul, pro-democracy lawmakers, students activists and other residents -- were arrested by police, with many refusing to walk and having to be carried away horizontally by four officers.
Four pro-democracy activists were arrested at or near their homes before and during the clearance.
Wong Yeung-tat, founder of group Civic Passion, was arrested on 59 counts of unlawful assembly.
Among those detained were So Ho, assistant to pro-democracy People Power lawmaker Ray Chan, and Alvin Cheng, a spokesperson for Student Front.
Raphael Wong, the vice chair of the pro-democracy League of Social Democrats, was arrested Wednesday and released Thursday.
Meanwhile, those arrested at Admirality included Martin Lee, one of the founders of the main opposition Democratic Party, student leaders Nathan Law and Alex Chow, and Apple Daily owner Jimmy Lai.
Around 909 individuals who left the site later than the 2.20 p.m. (6.20 a.m. GMT) deadline set by police had their personal details recorded.
Before his arrest, Chow said, "You might clear this place today but people will come back to the streets another day."
The on-site arrests came after a morning during which workers used wire-cutters and box-cutter knives to pry apart scores of barricades made of bamboo, wood, metal and plastic.
The workers did not return from lunch as hundreds of police took over in the afternoon, speedily carrying out the clearance after warning that protesters who did not leave would face arrest.
A long horizontal banner placed next to a Chinese military base near the site declared: "It's just the beginning."
Some 7,000 police officers were mobilized to handle the clearance and to stand guard in case of resistance by demonstrators.
After the police had torn down scores of tents and other structures, the place looked as if it had been slammed by a hurricane, with debris scattered along a kilometer-long stretch of a major thoroughfare. A fleet of around 12 trucks, some with mounted cranes, then loaded the debris into vehicles and carted it away.
In recent days, the site was festooned with hundreds of banners and posters declaring "We'll be back," echoing actor Arnold Schwarzenegger's catchphrase from "Terminator 2: Judgment Day".
The overwhelmingly peaceful protests in the former British colony have been seen the biggest challenge to Beijing since the handover in 1997.
Around 10,000 protesters had gathered at the site Wednesday evening, with many staying overnight. Around 100,000 attended at the protests' peak.
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