Asia-Pacific News
Police forcibly remove 130 pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong
By DPA
Jul 2, 2009, 5:58 GMT
Hong Kong - Police forcibly removed a group of 130 pro-democracy protestors early Thursday who staged a sit-in outside Hong Kong's government offices.
The demonstrators, including radical legislator Leung Kwok-heung, staged the sit-in after an annual anti-government march through central Hong Kong on July 1 joined by tens of thousands.
Singing songs and chanting slogans, the group staged their sit-in at the point where the march ended and refused to leave until they met Hong Kong's Beijing-appointed leader Donald Tsang.
Police stood by until 1:30 am when they forcibly removed the group, picking some from the ground and carrying them out of the government headquarters compound.
The operation lasted for over an hour and police district commander Winnie Chiu said afterwards there had been no arrests and that most protesters cooperated with officers.
The incident came at the end of a day of protests in Hong Kong to mark the 12th anniversary of the city's return to Chinese sovereignty after 156 years as a British colony.
Organizers of Wednesday's main pro-democracy march had hoped for 100,000 participants but estimated the turnout at 76,000 while police said the turnout was just 28,000.
A rival pro-China rally attended by Donald Tsang held Wednesday morning attracted between 39,000 and 40,000 people according to estimates by organizers and police.
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