Police plan action against Mong Kok protest camp after clearing barricades in Admiralty

After removing barricades in Causeway Bay and Admiralty this morning, police on Tuesday afternoon said they would soon take similar action in Mong Kok.

Chief Superintendent of the Hong Kong police’s public relations branch, Hui Chun-tak, said police would remove large obstacles from the protest site in Mong Kok to restore partial, if not full, traffic access to the area.

He described Mong Kok as a “high-risk area” and a place prone to commotion.

Hui urged protesters not to prevent officers from doing their jobs, “Otherwise, they will be removed,” he said. “We do not rule out [the possibility of] making arrests,” he added. But he stressed that this was not going to be a clearance of protesters.

“Before a clearance – that is to clear all the protesters – police will give warning in advance so that protests can leave,” he said.

Hui said that, since yesterday, 23 people had been arrested for various charges from public disorder to theft.