HONG KONG bailiffs successfully cleared a section of the Occupy Central camp in Admiralty yesterday morning as protesters put up little resistance to the enactment of a court order to remove barricades blocking access to CITIC Tower.

    Protesters began packing up their tents voluntarily at around 8 a.m., following an order by Justice Thomas Au Hing-cheung that police officers could remove or arrest people who insisted on breaching the injunction.

    The clearance began at 9:30 a.m., when a bailiff and a CITIC Group representative took to Lung Wui Road to tell protesters to go and take their belongings with them.

    “People should immediately pack their stuff and leave,” the bailiff said, via megaphone.

    Anyone who violated the court order could face contempt of court, she added.

    Protesters have since Sept. 28 been staging sit-ins on three major thoroughfares, demanding “open nominations” in the city’s election for chief executive in 2017.

    The court order, which was enforced yesterday, granted at the request of the building owners, relates only to the area around CITIC Tower in the Admiralty business and government district.

    It does not cover the entire area of the sit-in at Admiralty, where demonstrators have pitched a sea of colorful tents across an eight-lane highway.

    But similar court orders have been issued or are being sought for other blocked roads in the city, as public opinion turns against the protesters.

    (SD-Agencies)