A man followed by children walk past a protester's tent at the HSBC headquarters in Central on Monday. A Hong Kong court approved the eviction of protesters camped outside the bank's headquarters in the city, in a major blow to the last outpost of the 'Occupy' movement in Asia. Philippe Lopez / AFP

Movement supporters vow to defy court order to leave in two weeks

The High Court on Monday ordered protesters camped beneath HSBC's headquarters in Central to clear their encampment within two weeks. The protestors have declared with equal resolve that they will defy the court's order.

Occupy Central protesters pitched their tents at the site last October, an offshoot to the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York, which inspired similar protests around the world.

HSBC applied to the courts in June for the removal of the protestors, claiming the occupiers have taken over the open-air passageway without its consent. The bank argued that the occupiers posed a number of safety concerns with loose debris, rolling bottles and people cooking over open and gas fires.

High Court Master Reuder Lai said that there was no legal grounds for the Occupy Central movement to be allowed to continue the protest without the bank's permission.

Lai asked the protesters to leave the passageway by 9 pm on August 27. He rejected their request to extend the deadline by an additional week, saying the two-week period should be enough for them to clear out.

The plaza is the bank's property, but was deeded during construction in 1983 as a dedicated area for the purposes of public pedestrian passage. The master, however, said the protesters camped at the plaza exceeded its purpose as a passage, adding that the court will assign a bailiff to execute the order.

Victor Dawes, for HSBC, said the bank agreed with the 14-day extension. "We welcome the decision of the court and look to the occupiers to follow the terms of the court order," said Gareth Hewett, an HSBC spokesman.

Protesters said they would fight till the end to stay at the site, regardless of the court's decision to issue an eviction order.

"We certain people have reached consensus that we will adopt an uncooperative approach toward the eviction," Wong Wan-sze, a participant in the Occupy Central movement, told China Daily. "But we will have to bear our own risk of disobeying an order or having confrontation with the police."

Wong said she could not estimate the number of people who will participate as some protesters may leave voluntarily and newcomers may take part.

Another protestor Wong Hin-yan said that the participants would stay because they have created what they call an "impossible space" where they had begun to develop common ground to fight against capitalism hand in hand, so they wouldn't back off easily.

At present, some 10 stalwarts remain at the site around the clock. The numbers dwindled dramatically from the more than 100 last autumn. The area that the campers occupy is covered with furniture, tents and posters, same as 10 months ago.

They behaved relaxed as usual - slept, chitchatted with fellows and tidied up sundries. The bank's security guards, standing outside the occupied area, kept an eye on the occupiers, without taking any action.

"We would like to declare, without any hesitation whatsoever, that we have no intentions of leaving," says a message posted to the Occupy Central website. "From the 15th of October, 2011, we have made it clear that we have no regard for the strictures of property that HSBC invokes."

Liu Chor-hong contributed to the story.

mingyeung@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 08/14/2012 page1)