Hong Kong drivers clash with protesters over closed roads

A group of masked men armed with crowbars and cutting equipment clashed with pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong yesterday as they tried to remove barricades from key thoroughfares in the city.

The men, who included truck drivers and cabbies, said they wanted to open the roads because the protests against Beijing imposing its will on Hong Kong were affecting their business.

“Open the roads” and “Enough is enough”, they chanted as they cleared some physical barriers from the streets around Admiralty downtown, although they said the protesters could remain.

The democracy protester numbers have fallen to hundreds from thousands– but their tents and canopies are still blocking traffic in some of Hong Kong’s main streets.

There has been no progress in resolving the political impasse that has divided the city and created the biggest crisis since Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.

While there is support for the demonstrations, there is no doubt that the traffic disruptions are causing hardship in this busy metropolis, one of the great logistics hubs in the world.

Elderly supporters

Earlier in the day there were scuffles as dozens of elderly pro-Beijing supporters staged a rally at the protest site.

The Scholarism group of protesters said the police did not intervene to stop the anti-Occupy Central groups.

“Police indulged the anti-Occupiers in making the damage. This stands in stark contrast to how they dealt with peaceful Occupy protesters earlier on,” the student body said in a statement.

The Occupy Central protesters are angry at a decision by China's National People's Congress in Beijing to allow only candidates vetted by Beijing to stand in elections in Hong Kong in 2017, even though Hong Kong's basic law allows for greater representation.

China runs Hong Kong under a "one country, two systems" formula that gives the former crown colony a high degree of autonomy.

The democracy protesters, who are mostly students, want Hong Kong's chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, to step down.

As with conflict in Mong Kok last week, there were suggestions of Triad gangster involvement in the co-ordination of the attacks, while some protesters complained that the demonstrators did not speak Cantonese, the Chinese dialect spoken in Hong Kong, but rather Mandarin, which suggests they did not come from Hong Kong but from mainland China.

Last month, police used tear gas on demonstrators and some of the protesters donned gas masks in case the situation got ugly again.

Since that day, the police presence has been low-key.

Last week, a group of goods vehicle drivers gave demonstrators a deadline of October 15th to open the roads or they would intervene to tear barricades down.

The group represents 70 per cent of the 120,000 trucks in the city.

In a statement, Occupy Central said it understood that the protests were causing inconvenience to fellow citizens, but asked the opposing groups not to use violence.

“We ask the occupiers to stand firm in defending the occupied area and support each other; we also ask you to stand by the principle of non-violent disobedience in face of the police’s clearance.

“We believe that the success of the movement hinges on our perseverance in the spirit of democracy, love and peace.”