Demands unmet, protesters disperse

Hong Kong authorities wait out crowd’s siege

HONG KONG — Protesters in Hong Kong ended their overnight siege of police headquarters peacefully Saturday, disappointed that their demands for the territory’s leader to formally withdraw a contentious extradition bill and police to apologize for heavy-handed tactics have gone unmet.

By daybreak, police had cleared the streets of barriers set up by protesters to snarl traffic in the Asian financial center, and only a few groups in the mostly youthful crowd remained.

Traffic was again smooth on a major thoroughfare through the government’s central complex as the protest movement regrouped to consider the next move.

Around police headquarters, masked and helmeted protesters covered surveillance cameras with masking tape and lashed barriers together with nylon cable ties. They threw eggs at the building and drew graffiti on the walls. Protesters also “splashed oil” and targeted police officers’ eyes with laser pointers, according to the police.

Hong Kong has been rocked by major protests for the past two weeks over legislative proposals that many view as eroding the territory’s judicial independence and, more broadly, as a sign of Chinese government efforts to chip away at the city’s freedoms.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam suspended debate on the bills a week ago, making it likely they would die. But protesters are demanding that she formally withdraw the proposed changes to the extradition laws, which would expand the scope of criminal suspect transfers to include mainland China, Taiwan and Macau. Some also want Lam to resign.

Legal and business groups in Hong Kong oppose the legislation, saying critics of China’s ruling Communist Party would be at risk of torture and unfair trials on the mainland and that it would further erode the “one country, two systems” framework under which Hong Kong has been governed since the handover from British rule in 1997.

The peaceful ending to Friday’s protests drew a sigh of relief in the city of 7.4 million people. Police had unleashed tear gas and rubber bullets last week in violent clashes.

Police were previously criticized for their use of force but this time waited out the protesters.

Vincent Yu The Associated Press Protesters shine lights from their cellphones Friday outside police headquarters in Hong Kong.