Collision course set over threat to remove protest barriers
Protesters reinforce barricades as police prepare to clear them following violent clashes with masked men; taxi and truck drivers issue deadline
Democracy protesters in Admiralty are on collision course with police and a coalition of drivers that has vowed to remove their barricades after violent confrontations broke out yesterday.
With police expected to clear barriers in Causeway Bay and Queensway as early as daybreak today, protesters in Admiralty and Causeway Bay have reinforced their barricades with bamboo and cement.
Their action follows clashes yesterday in which hundreds of opponents of the Occupy movement - including about 50 men wearing facemasks - gathered in Queensway at about 1.30pm in an attempt to bring down the barricades.
Marching towards Central, the crowd demolished the barriers they passed with cutters. Clashes broke out with protesters and police officers who tried to stop them.
Dozens of taxis blocked the roads nearby in protest against the civil disobedience movement, which is now in its third week.
A police operation early yesterday successfully removed some barricades in Central and Mong Kok. A police source said force would be used to stop anyone obstructing officers in future attempts to remove the barriers.
Watch: Chaotic scenes in Admiralty as anti-Occupy groups march on protest area
Eddie Ng Yip-pui, director of the Taxi Drivers and Operators Association, admitted it had sent more than 200 taxi drivers and their family members to Admiralty yesterday.
"We want to tell them the hardships we are facing. Some taxi drivers have had to stop working," he said.
Ng threatened to escalate their action if protesters refused to remove the barricades by tomorrow.
A coalition of truck drivers has also set tomorrow as the deadline for the protesters to remove the barricades on main roads in Admiralty, Mong Kok and Causeway Bay.
Fourteen taxi, minibus and truck drivers' groups have vowed to seek a court injunction to bar leaders of the Occupy movement from blocking major roads, as they say the protests are affecting their businesses.
The Occupy Central movement condemned the removal of the barriers by the masked men as a "violent act". The movement urged the police to protect the peaceful occupation protests from being disrupted.
Meanwhile, Vice-Premier Wang Yang , who is accompanying Premier Li Keqiang on a visit to Russia, warned in Sochi on Saturday that Western countries were trying to support the opposition in Hong Kong. "Their purpose is clear - they want to organise the so-called colour revolution," he said.
Yesterday's clashes took place 90 minutes after the government rejected the demand of protesters occupying Queensway to re-open "Civic Square", or the court area in front of the east-wing entrance to the government headquarters in Admiralty, in exchange for their retreat from the main road linking Wan Chai, Admiralty and Central.
Director of Administration Kitty Choi Kit-yu said the government refused to open the square because it would threaten the safety of the 3,000 civil servants who work in the complex.
Speaking after attending the Pan-Pearl River Delta regional forum in Guangzhou, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said disturbance of traffic by Occupy Central could not "last forever".
But he would not say whether there was a deadline for protesters to retreat.
A government source said the administration was assessing the security risk of Leung attending the Legco question-and-answer session on Thursday.
