Crackdown

Hong Kong Police Clash With Protesters

Use chainsaws to dismantle barricades.

Hundreds of police swarmed downtown Hong Kong on Tuesday morning, pushing back pro-democracy protesters and using chainsaws to tear down barricades that the protesters had erected in defiance of a court order to stop blocking buildings. The action in the Admiralty District followed a pre-dawn police operation to remove similar barricades in Causeway Bay. Officers wearing helmets and protective gear moved onto Queensway, the road where protesters had erected new barriers overnight, and forced the crowd onto side streets, while other workers dismantled the barriers. Authorities appear to have begun to reduce the number of encampments occupied by protesters, who are demanding full universal suffrage in the territory.