Hundreds of police armed with chainsaws and boltcutters made a fresh assault on protest barricades in Hong Kong on Tuesday, a day after a similar attempt backfired as demonstrators reinforced their defences.
Officers made a dawn raid at one rally site in the financial hub's bustling shopping district and hours later cleared away a second set of barricades at the edge of the main protest encampment near the city's government headquarters.
Vast crowds have rallied against China's insistence that it will vet candidates standing for election as the city's next leader in 2017 -- a move protesters have labelled a "fake democracy".
While the activists have been praised for their civility and organisational skills they have also brought widespread disruption to an already densely populated and congested city usually renowned for its stability.
Angry and sometimes violent scuffles have broken out between demonstrators and government loyalists, sparking accusations the authorities are using hired thugs to sow trouble.
Police had been keeping a low profile at the three protests sites in Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Mongkok after a decision to fire tear gas at peaceful demonstrators on September 28 caused outrage and encouraged tens of thousands to turn out on the streets.
But in the last two days, officers have begun probing protester defences in raids aimed at clearing some roads to ease traffic, while allowing the bulk of protesters to remain in place.
Around 150 police dismantled metal barricades at the Causeway Bay site before dawn Tuesday, an AFP journalist at the scene reported, freeing up traffic in one direction but leaving the protest camp there largely intact.
Hours later another contingent of officers hit barricades at the main Admiralty site, using chainsaws to slice through bamboo poles that had been used to reinforce protest cordons following a similar attempt to remove them on Monday.
Within an hour, traffic was flowing freely along the newly cleared road although protesters still held onto a major carriageway opposite the city's legislative headquarters.
- Sobs and defiance -
Some protesters were seen sobbing as police went to work dismantling the barricades.
"We are only residents and students," one tearful young woman shouted at police. "We will leave as we are unable to fight you, but we will not give up."
At both sites protesters put up little resistance.
Police told reporters that the operation was limited to removing barricades along key traffic routes and that the democracy campaigners would still be given space to express their views.
They added they would increase patrols to ensure the newly cleared areas where not reoccupied.
A similar operation on Monday at the edges of the sprawling Admiralty protest camp prompted activists there to swiftly regroup.
They laid down cement foundations and built up bamboo pole barricades blocking both lanes of a highway, using everything from steel chains to plastic ties and sticky tape to strengthen the structures, even enlisting sympathetic construction workers for help with their building work.
But police Tuesday appeared well prepared for the myriad of obstacles in their way.
Protest leader Alex Chow rallied supporters at Causeway Bay, and called on the city's chief executive Leung Chun-ying -- whose resignation protesters are demanding -- to restart stalled talks after the government abruptly pulled out last week.
"The Occupy movement will not retreat, there is no way to retreat right now... as long as Leung doesn't give a concrete solution, all the occupiers will not leave," said Chow, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Students.
But some protesters admitted they would struggle to protect barricades from further attacks, particularly overnight when demonstrator numbers drop significantly.
"Of course it would be good if there were more disobedience acts (from protesters) but as you can see we don't have enough people," a 19-year-old chef who gave his surname Lau tolf AFP.
"I just do what I can," he said, adding this was his 14th day on the barricades.
The renewed police offensive comes a day after masked men rushed the rebuilt barricades in Admiralty, sparking accusations that thugs and suspected triads were being used to harass demonstrators and serve as a pretext for police to act.
On Monday, embattled leader Leung told reporters in the Chinese city of Guangzhou that he wanted the protests to end.
"Under the appropriate situation we hope to allow society to return to normal as quickly as possible," he said on the sidelines of a trade meeting.

 

North Korea's Kim Jong-Un reappears with walking stick
08:40 - 14/10/14

© AFP
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (L), seen during an inspection tour of a newly-built housing complex in Pyongyang, in October 2014
© Rodong Sinmun/AFP -

Seoul (AFP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has finally resurfaced with the help of a walking stick after a prolonged, unexplained absence that fuelled rampant speculation about his health and even rumours of a coup in the nuclear-armed state.
State media on Tuesday reported that Kim, who had not been seen in public for nearly six weeks, made an inspection tour of a newly-built housing complex in Pyongyang and a science institute.
The front page of the ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun was mostly taken up with a large close-up portrait of a smiling Kim, photographed from the waist upwards.
The daily carried smaller, full-length photos showing Kim leaning on a black walking stick in his left hand as he toured the residential complex built for scientists working on North Korea's satellite programme.
The visit was also reported by state TV, but using the same pictures and without any video footage, making it impossible to judge just how mobile Kim was.
"Looking over the exterior of the apartment houses and public buildings, decorated with diverse coloured tiles, (Kim) expressed great satisfaction, saying they looked very beautiful," the official KCNA news agency said
KCNA did not specify the date of the visit, but the agency usually reports such events the day after.
It also made no mention of Kim's absence from the public eye and offered no insight into his physical wellbeing.
Kim, believed to be 30 or 31, dropped out of sight after attending a music concert with his wife in Pyongyang on September 3.
While there is precedent for a North Korean leader to "disappear" for a while, the absence was more noticeable with Kim, who has maintained a particularly pervasive media presence since coming to power after the death of his father Kim Jong-Il in late 2011.
- Multiple rumours -
Competing theories on his disappearance ranged widely from an extended rest period to a leadership coup, via a long list of possible illnesses and ailments including broken ankles, gout and diabetes.
The rumours multiplied after Kim failed to attend a major political anniversary event on Friday, at which other top leaders were present.
The only North Korean mention of a possible health problem came in a state TV documentary several weeks ago which spoke of Kim's "discomfort".
Kim, a heavy smoker, has shown striking weight gain since coming to power and recent TV footage had shown him walking with a pronounced limp.
"It's still not clear how much he has recovered from the apparent 'discomfort' or how serious it was," said Kim Yeon-Chul, a North Korea expert at Inje University in the South.
"The important thing is that this really corroborates observations by South Korea, China and the United States that Kim is ruling normally."
Given the supreme importance of the leadership of the Kim family dynasty in North Korea, there had been speculation that a further extended absence might lead to a period of instability.
His reappearance followed a rare exchange of heavy machine-gun fire over the inter-Korean border on Friday, after the North's military tried to shoot down some leaflet-laden balloons launched by South Korean anti-Pyongyang activists.
- 'We created the frenzy' -
Some analysts suggested Pyongyang had not moved to silence the rumour mill earlier because it craves international attention, especially attention motivated by uncertainty.
"But then it's not as if they had a plan to not show the leader for a month and let the world go into a frenzy. We created the frenzy ourselves," said John Delury, a North Korea expert at Yonsei University in Seoul.
The North's propaganda machine has always pushed an image of Kim Jong-Un as young and dynamic, but Delury said it would have little problem spinning the walking stick.
"Assuming this is what it looks like -- not a life-threatening or debilitating condition -- they'll probably push the line that he hurt himself working for the country and the people," he said.
The narrator of the TV documentary in late September said Kim had kept up his field guidance trips "despite suffering discomfort".
Kim was accompanied on his visit to the residential complex by several top officials including Hwang Pyong-So, the vice chairman of the powerful National Defence Commission who is widely seen as Kim's number two.
Hwang led a top-ranking North Korean delegation that made a surprise visit to the South just over a week