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               Hong Kong Police, Protesters Meet in Violent Clash

   by VOA News

   Hundreds of riot police in Hong Kong have clashed with protesters
   during an operation to clear students who were blocking an underpass on
   a key road near government headquarters.

   Police used pepper spray and batons, and in some cases punched and
   tackled protesters to the ground during the clashes early Wednesday in
   the Admiralty district. Forty-five people were arrested.

   Protesters stormed the Lung Wo Road tunnel after police cleared other
   barricades at nearby demonstration sites the last two days, a move they
   say is aimed at freeing up roads blocked by the protests.
   A 22-year-old protester, Samuel Lam, said he hopes blocking roads will
   force concessions from the government, which has refused to meet
   protesters' demands for electoral reforms.

   "If we keep occupying different streets, and this may give some
   pressure to [the government], because they cannot control us," said
   Lam.

   Police say they reacted peacefully in the early morning operation to
   clear the tunnel, but video recorded by local media suggests otherwise.

   A Hong Kong television station, TVB, on Wednesday aired video appearing
   to show several police dragging a protester into a darkened entrance of
   a building, where they repeatedly kicked and punched him.

   The operation is the toughest police response since late September,
   when authorities tried unsuccessfully to break up the protests using
   pepper spray and tear gas, a move that helped garner support for the
   protests.

   Since then, police have taken a more restrained approach, and the
   protests have slowly begun to lose public support, especially from
   those trying to do business in the demonstration zones.

   The demonstrations began in late September with the protesters, many of
   them university students, calling for the leader of the semi-autonomous
   city to resign and for the Chinese government to let Hong Kong voters
   elect their own leader without restrictions on candidates.

   Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has said he will not step down. His
   government initially agreed to hold talks with protesters, but
   eventually backed down, leading student leaders to expand their
   demonstrations.

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   t-clash/2484111.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/hong-kong-police-protesters-in-violent-clash/2484111.html