All Hong Kong protest sites finally cleared

HONG KONG, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Hong Kong's Causeway Bay, the last remaining site of the city's 79-day pro-democracy protest, was cleared of barricades and tents early Monday, ending the street demonstrations.

The smallest of the three main sites of the movement, which was reduced to several hundred people occupying several hundred yards of a street by the end, fell with little resistance after police gave those remaining 20 minutes to evacuate. Twenty remaining people were arrested.

The largest protest areas were cleared last week, with 250 arrests. After Monday's removal at Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Chief Executive C.Y. Leung declared the "illegal occupation activities" were finished. Throughout the protests, the governments of China and of Hong Kong regarded the assemblies as illegal. The mass protests, over the future of democratic elections in Hong Kong and Beijing's announced plans to vet candidates in the 2017 election for Chief Executive, attracted hundreds of thousands when they began in September, but have dwindled to numbers in the dozens.

After the sweep by police Monday, the streets were cleaned, and normal traffic resumed by Monday afternoon.

"I think there is still hope, because many people still come out and support us. Whatever the police do, we will still continue fighting for true democracy," protester Tommy Lam, 19, told Time magazine before the Causeway Bay clearing.