After months of acts of civil disobedience that at some points paralyzed Hong Kong, police cleared the final encampment of what's come to be known as the Umbrella Revolution.
Demonstrators had gathered on the streets of Hong Kong for two months. The protest site at Admiralty was, symbolically, the most important because it was closest to the government offices. In the end, it was also the last one standing.
Today, as NPR's Frank Langfitt tells our Newscast unit, police moved in, arrested scores of protesters and dismantled the protest camp at the heart of the city's downtown. Frank reports that:
"Police came through with dump trucks and chain saws and made quick work of the sprawling pro-democracy village, comprised of hundreds of tents and all sorts of political street art.
"Protesters here made global headlines earlier this fall when they turned out in the tens of thousands to demand democracy from China's Communist Party in Beijing.
"But the Chinese government and local officials refused to negotiate and over time the demonstrations lost steam.
"The climax of today's clearance came when police hauled off demonstrators.
"In an act of civil disobedience, they sat in the middle of the highway and refused to leave the camp.
"Protesters said the Hong Kong government is just a tool of Beijing and pledged future street actions."
We'll leave you with a photo of the Admiralty protest site from Alex Ogle, a photographer for Agence France-Presse:
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An area that has been home to many people and art and fervent debates for over two months nearly completely cleared pic.twitter.com/fFhQciLtNt
— alex ogle (@alex_ogle) December 11, 2014
