In a concerted effort to reduce the territory held by protesters, police tore down barricades in the bustling shopping district of Causeway Bay and on the edge of the main protest encampment in Admiralty, near the city government's headquarters.

They also vowed to target protester cordons in Mong Kok, a working-class district known for its triad gangs where violence has previously broken out.

Huge crowds have intermittently rallied against China's insistence that it will vet candidates standing for election as the semi-autonomous city's next leader in 2017 — a move protesters have labeled as “fake democracy.”

While the activists have been praised for their civility and organizational skills, they have also brought widespread disruption to an already densely populated city.

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 main protest sites after a decision to fire tear gas at peaceful demonstrators on September 28 caused outrage and encouraged tens of thousands to take to the streets.

But in the last two days, officers have begun probing protester defenses in raids aimed at opening some roads to traffic, while allowing the bulk of demonstrators to stay in place.

Around 150 police dismantled metal barricades at the Causeway Bay site before dawn Tuesday, freeing up traffic in one direction but leaving the protest camp there largely intact.

Hours later another contingent of officers tackled barricades at the main Admiralty site, using chainsaws to slice through bamboo poles and freeing up one of the multi-lane highways in the district.

At both sites protesters put up little resistance, sticking to their promise of non-violence.

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.”

Police insisted they would soon turn their attention to Mong Kok.

A similar clearance operation on Monday at the edges of the Admiralty protest camp prompted activists there to swiftly regroup.“Mong Kok is already a high-risk area. Our officers are now ready to take action first to remove the obstacle there,” Senior Superintendent Hui Chun-tak told reporters without giving a timeframe.

They laid down cement foundations and built up bamboo pole barricades blocking both lanes of a highway, using everything from steel chains to plastic cable ties and sticky tape to strengthen the structures — even enlisting sympathetic construction workers for help.

But police Tuesday were well prepared for the myriad of obstacles, clearing them in less than an hour.

Protest leader Alex Chow rallied supporters at Causeway Bay, and called on the city's chief executive CY Leung — whose resignation protesters are demanding — to restart stalled talks after the government abruptly cancelled dialogue 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 as Lau told 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 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 said he hoped the protests would end “as quickly as possible.”

A new poll released Tuesday by Hong Kong University showed Leung's support rating dropped 2.6 percent from late last month to 40.6 percent, his second lowest rating since he came to office in 2012.

丹尼斯衝，法新社Police insisted they would soon turn their attention to Mong Kok.

A similar clearance operation on Monday at the edges of the Admiralty protest camp prompted activists there to swiftly regroup.“Mong Kok is already a high-risk area. Our officers are now ready to take action first to remove the obstacle there,” Senior Superintendent Hui Chun-tak told reporters without giving a timeframe.

They laid down cement foundations and built up bamboo pole barricades blocking both lanes of a highway, using everything from steel chains to plastic cable ties and sticky tape to strengthen the structures — even enlisting sympathetic construction workers for help.

But police Tuesday were well prepared for the myriad of obstacles, clearing them in less than an hour.

Protest leader Alex Chow rallied supporters at Causeway Bay, and called on the city's chief executive CY Leung — whose resignation protesters are demanding — to restart stalled talks after the government abruptly cancelled dialogue 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 as Lau told 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 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 said he hoped the protests would end “as quickly as possible.”

A new poll released Tuesday by Hong Kong University showed Leung's support rating dropped 2.6 percent from late last month to 40.6 percent, his second lowest rating since he came to office in 2012.

Police insisted they would soon turn their attention to Mong Kok.

A similar clearance operation on Monday at the edges of the Admiralty protest camp prompted activists there to swiftly regroup.“Mong Kok is already a high-risk area. Our officers are now ready to take action first to remove the obstacle there,” Senior Superintendent Hui Chun-tak told reporters without giving a timeframe.

They laid down cement foundations and built up bamboo pole barricades blocking both lanes of a highway, using everything from steel chains to plastic cable ties and sticky tape to strengthen the structures — even enlisting sympathetic construction workers for help.

But police Tuesday were well prepared for the myriad of obstacles, clearing them in less than an hour.

Protest leader Alex Chow rallied supporters at Causeway Bay, and called on the city's chief executive CY Leung — whose resignation protesters are demanding — to restart stalled talks after the government abruptly cancelled dialogue 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 as Lau told 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 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 said he hoped the protests would end “as quickly as possible.”

A new poll released Tuesday by Hong Kong University showed Leung's support rating dropped 2.6 percent from late last month to 40.6 percent, his second lowest rating since he came to office in 2012.

香港警方在抗議路障新鮮毆打
2014年10月15日，上午12:01 TWN

香港 - 香港警方週二誓言推倒親民主示威者更有人值班的街道設置路障，數百名手持電鋸和boltcutters人員下班後部分清除佔用了兩個星期，兩個主要的道路。

在共同努力減少抗議者舉行境內，警方在銅鑼灣的繁華購物區和主要抗議營地金鐘，靠近市政府總部的邊緣推倒路障。

他們還發誓要針對旺角，一個工薪階層地區著名的黑社會性質組織在暴力此前爆發示威警戒線。

巨大的人群已經斷斷續續上漲對中國堅持認為它會參選審核候選人的半自治城市的下一任領導人在2017 - 此舉示威者打成“假民主”。

而分子一直在稱讚自己的文明和組織能力，他們也帶來了廣泛的破壞到已經人煙稠密的城市。

憤怒有時是暴力的混戰已經示威者與政府的支持者之間爆發出來，引發指責當局使用的是打手播種的麻煩。

警方一直保持在三個主要抗議地點低調的決定開火和平示威催淚瓦斯9月28日之後引起的憤怒和鼓勵成千上萬走上街頭。

但在過去的兩天裡，官員已經開始探索在空襲旨在開放部分道路交通抗議者辯護，同時允許大部分示威者留在原地。

約150名警察拆除金屬路障在黎明之前（星期二）銅鑼灣現場，騰出的流量在一個方向，但離開抗議營地還有基本完好。

幾個小時後，人員隊伍又解決了路障在主金鐘部位，使用電鋸切片通過竹竿和釋放該區的多車道公路之一。

在這兩個網站的示威者搭起的小阻力，堅持非暴力的承諾。

哭泣和反抗

一些示威者被視為抽泣警察去上班拆除路障。

“我們是唯一的居民和學生！”一個帶著哭腔的年輕女子在警察喊道。“我們將離開，因為我們無法打你，但我們不會放棄。”

警方堅稱，他們很快就會把注意力轉向旺角。

“旺角已經是一個高風險領域。我們的官員現在已經準備好採取行動，先掃除障礙存在，“高級警司慧駿德告訴記者，沒有給出時間表。

在金鐘抗議營地的邊緣上週一類似的清場行動促使活動家有迅速集結。

他們訂下的水泥地基和建立起來的竹竿路障阻斷公路的兩個車道，利用一切從鋼鏈，塑料紮帶膠帶加強結構 - 即使是爭取同情的施工人員尋求幫助。

但警方22日分別對障礙物的無數早有準備，在不到一個小時的清理它們。

抗議領袖亞歷克斯·週上漲的支持者在銅鑼灣，並號召全市行政長官梁振英 - 其辭職的示威者都要求 - 重新啟動陷入僵局的會談後，政府突然取消了對話的最後一周。

“在佔領運動將沒有退路，也沒有退路，現在......只要亮並沒有給出具體的解決方案，所有的住戶都不會離開，”鄒，學生聯會會長說： 。

但是，一些示威者承認，他們會努力保護路障進一步的攻擊，特別是夜間時，示威者人數顯著下降。

“當然，這將是一件好事，如果有更多的不服從行為（從示威者），但你可以看到，我們沒有足夠多的人，”一名19歲的廚師是誰給他的姓氏為劉告訴法新社記者。

“我只是盡我所能，”他補充說，這是他在路障14天。

再度警方進攻的前一天，蒙面人衝進路障金鐘，引發了暴徒和涉嫌黑社會都被用來騷擾示威者，並以此為藉口對警方採取行動的指控。

週一四面楚歌領導人亮說，他希望抗議活動將結束“盡快”。

週二香港大學公佈的一項最新民調顯示，梁的支持率下跌了2.6％，從上月下旬至40.6％，他的第二個最低等級，因為他來到辦公室於2012年。