Conservationists' last battle cry: 'There will be an end for Queen's Pier, but the end is not today'

The sun was setting on Queen's Pier last night as the final protester was dragged from its rooftop, but activists say the battle for the old terminal is far from over.

Instead of going home after their 97-day vigil, conservationists said they would do everything they could to 'take back' the colonial-era structure and restore it to its rightful owners - the people of Hong kong.

'There will be an end for Queen's Pier, but the end is not today,' said Chu Hoi-dick, a member of Local Action, which led the campaign to prevent the government demolishing the terminal, and among the first to be forcibly removed from the site.

'We will definitely take back Queen's Pier, otherwise it will be demolished. We want the people and our next generation to share the happy time we had here,' Mr Chu said.

The last protester, a 17-year-old activist known as 'Ah Cho', was removed from the roof of the pier at 8.46pm last night - at the end of a 10-hour police operation. On Tuesday the judicial review hearing starts.

The activists' last stand began at 10am, when they chained themselves together under the pier's main roof.

Shortly after 11am, officers from the police tactical unit marched into the terminal and surrounded the dozens of protesters, together with lands official who warned them they were occupying government land, and supporting officers who quickly cordoned off the area. The protesters' mood was upbeat with one aim on their minds - to support the three hunger-strikers for as long as they could.