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 A local bus company, which was granted an injunction against
street blockades at the site in Admiralty, home to government
offices and next to the main Central business district, has received
an official clearance order from the High Court, according to
notices posted in local papers on Tuesday.
Student groups have been calling for a free vote in the Chinese
controlled city through largely peaceful demonstrations dubbed the
"Umbrella Movement".
Paul Tse, the lawyer who represents the bus company, told local
television the protesters should leave the area before 9 a.m. on
Thursday.
Chief Executive C.Y. Leung, who has branded the protests illegal,
has rejected calls for more talks on political reform and warned
protesters not to turn to violence when the clearance starts.
Splinter protest groups calling for democracy for Hong Kong are
springing up and fast-tracking action plans as student-led
demonstrators consider a retreat from the main protest site which
has blocked key downtown arteries since the end of September.
 At their peak, the rallies drew more than 100,000, but their number
has dwindled and now there only dozens left.
On Tuesday, the site remained quiet filled mainly with visitors
taking photographs.
By 6 p.m. on Monday many supply tents in the area covered by the
court order had either been dismantled or relocated to nearby
locations.
Mani Chan was among the last group to move to a new site 10 meters
away, still on the roadway but outside the injunction zone. “This
station and the volunteers (here) are forming a defense line,” Chan
said. “We’re going to stay anyway.”
Clashes between protesters and police increased at the end of
November after the clearance of protest sites in the densely
populated working-class district of Mong Kok district, on the
Kowloon side of Hong Kong harbor.
One man was jailed for six months on Monday for threatening to burn
Mong Kok demonstrators with paint thinner, media said on Monday.
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STUDENTS VOW NON-VIOLENCE
Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to China in 1997. Under
a "one country, two systems" formula, the city has some autonomy
from the Communist Party-ruled mainland and a promise of eventual
universal suffrage.
Beijing has allowed a vote in the next election in 2017, but insists
on screening any candidates first.
Student groups have been considering a retreat from the main
campsite for over a week with key leader Joshua Wong saying his
group would maintain the principle of non-violence during the
clearance of the Admiralty site.
Volunteers are currently considering how to pack up the huge amount
of supplies from tents and toiletries to saline solution and cereal.
Cheung, a middle aged volunteer who would only give his surname,
said in the coming days the supplies from his station might be
transferred to a warehouse and stored for future campaigns and some
would be given to the Hong Kong Federation of Students.
Kenny Ho, a 20-year-old student who sat in a tent next to the
injunction area, vowed to stay put until police cleared the site. "I
worry about my future after the movement, but I believe that I will
have a future if Hong Kong has a future."
(Writing by Farah Master; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
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