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 Many activists chose to leave the Admiralty site, next to
government buildings and the Central business area, peacefully,
despite their demands for a free vote not being met, but the overall
mood was one of defiance as protesters chanted: "We will be back".
Groups of up to four police arrested holdout protesters one by one
hours after workers used wire cutters to remove barricades and
dismantle bamboo scaffolding.
Martin Lee, one of the founders of the main opposition Democratic
Party, student leader Nathan Law, media mogul Jimmy Lai and
legislators were among those arrested.
The mainly peaceful protests have represented one of the most
serious challenges to China's authority since the 1989 pro-democracy
demonstrations and bloody crackdown in and around Beijing's
Tiananmen Square.
 Hundreds of police swept through other parts of Admiralty, checking
tents before dragging them away along with metal barriers, plastic
sheets and umbrellas, which activists had used during clashes to
guard against pepper spray and baton blows.
A decapitated cardboard cutout of Chinese President Xi Jinping stood
in front of a police line.
"The movement has been surreal. No one knew it could last more than
two months ... in a place where time and money are most important,"
said protester Javis Luk, 27.
There was little resistance as protesters packed up pillows,
blankets and other belongings from inside their tents in some of the
world's most expensive real estate and left the site.
Some protesters mocked police warnings, shouting their own aimed at
Hong Kong's embattled leader, Leung Chun-ying.
"This is the last warning for CY Leung! Show your face, CY Leung,"
they shouted.
All of the hundreds of tents that had dotted the eight-lane highway
that connects some of the former British colony's most important
financial and commercial districts had been removed by Friday
evening and just a few dozen protesters remained.
Pro-democracy lawmakers and media magnate Lai, an outspoken critic
of Beijing, sat near the People's Liberation Army base and adopted
the three-finger salute used in the film "Hunger Games" against
totalitarian rule.
TEARFUL FAREWELL
Lai said it would be naive to think that 75 days of protests would
see their demands met.
"We are not so naive," he told CNN before he was arrested. "We know
there will be many battles before we win the war."
Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a "one country, two
systems" formula that gives the city more autonomy and freedom than
the mainland and a goal of universal suffrage.
The protesters are demanding open nominations in the city's next
election for chief executive in 2017. Beijing has said it will allow
a 2017 vote but only between pre-screened candidates.
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Despite the clearance, the Occupy movement has been a social
watershed, with people pushing back against increasing control and
standing up to Beijing to preserve democracy and freedoms largely
denied on the mainland.
For many, it was a tearful farewell to the site where thousands had
gathered in recent weeks and many have called home during the
occupation. "The movement has been an awakening process for Hong
Kong. People who weren't interested in politics before are now and
aren't afraid to get arrested, especially the young people," said
Labour Party lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan.
The clearance at Admiralty came more than two weeks after
authorities removed barricades from a protest site in the
working-class district of Mong Kok, across the harbor, sparking
several nights of running battles between demonstrators and police.
A handful of protesters remained in the shopping district of
Causeway Bay.
The protests drew well over 100,000 at their peak as students vented
their anger at Beijing's refusal to budge on electoral reforms.
There were sporadic violent clashes in the most serious unrest in
Hong Kong since labor riots in the 1960s led by pro-Communist groups
inspired by Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution.
A large yellow banner bearing an umbrella and the words "We'll be
back" was draped in the center of the highway where protesters had
camped out, with similar messages scrawled on roads and posted on
tents.
Protesters also tossed yellow confetti strips with the same message
from a vehicular ramp as workers cleared barricades.
Next to the People's Liberation Army base, a huge orange banner
erected across barricades read: "It's just the beginning."
Hong Kong Federation of Students leader Alex Chow said: "You might
have the clearance today but people will come back on to the streets
another day."
 Volunteers and protesters scrambled to preserve "Umbrella Movement"
artwork, including tens of thousands of messages of support posted
on a wall in the area.
Authorities used around 20 large trucks with cranes to remove
mountains of rubbish. A government spokesman said police had been
professional and restrained and roads would be reopened to traffic
as soon as possible.
(Additional reporting By Farah Master,; Donny Kwok, Twinnie Siu,
Lizzie Ko; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Paul Tait and
Nick Macfie)
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