Police start clearing last Hong Kong protest site

Hong Kong police began clearing barriers blocking the main street in the commercial district of Causeway Bay here Monday morning.

The site in Yee Wo Street was occupied for two and a half months and was the last of the three Occupy Central camps being cleared by police, Xinhua reported.

Ahead of the operation, police offered protesters 30 minutes to clear out, urging demonstrators to leave immediately from the short stretch of road in Causeway Bay.

Most protesters left before the clearance operation started at around 10:20 am local time.

Police warned that they would arrest those who obstructed the clearance operation.

Authorities also dismantled Thursday the largest protest camp, which was located close to the government headquarters in Admiralty.

In late November, authorities cleared another camp in Mong Kok, a crowded neighbourhood on the other side of the Victoria Harbor.

The civil disobedience campaign was launched Aug 31 in response to the decision by the Permanent Committee of the Chinese People's Assembly to approve universal suffrage for the Hong Kong government election in 2017 but to only allow two or three candidates previously selected by a special government commission of 1,200 members to run for each post.