Hong Kong court rejects appeal against protest site clearance

Hong Kong: The Hong Kong High Court Thursday refused to grant leave for protesters to appeal a court injunction that would allow bailiffs to clear sit-in sites in Mong Kok.

At a hearing, Justice Thomas Au Hing-cheung ruled that the protesters' case for an appeal was unsound and also refused to delay the injunction, the South China Morning Post reported.

On Monday, the high court gave permission to police to assist bailiffs and make arrests in the event of physical resistance from protesters.

But amid police preparations for a site clearance, a group of students planned to open a new front -- by blocking roads near the British consulate in Admiralty.

Both protesters and the police are striving to ensure they do nothing that may see them lose legal or political credibility in the battle for the city's streets.

Lawyer Phyllis Kwong Ka-yin, who represents a taxi drivers' group that applied for an injunction to clear the Mong Kok site, Wednesday warned people not to help in the execution of the court order, otherwise they could face civil or even criminal liabilities.

"Members of the public who assist bailiffs may breach laws if, for example, they clash with someone else. They can be arrested for assault," Kwong said.

"That is why I would not encourage helping the bailiffs to enforce the injunction orders."

She said the removal of protest barricades could happen Friday, pending a hearing on the injunctions.

In Admiralty, Occupy protesters at the Tim Mei Avenue entrance of Citic Tower, where one of the injunctions applied, said they would give the government "no excuse" to chase them out.

"We have moved barricades blocking this entrance to elsewhere ever since the injunction was put in place," a protester said.

"Traffic to the entrance can be resumed at any time technically, there will be no excuse for the authorities to disperse us."

Then there are other protesters who plan to take over Supreme Court Road outside the British consulate Friday next week, because they see the former colonial master as having failed to support the civilians' pursuit of democracy.

The group of students said they wanted to pressure Britain, as a signatory to the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, to monitor the high degree of autonomy and democratic development promised to Hong Kong.

An event webpage has 50 people confirmed as attending. Booths at protest sites invited protesters to join the action with the message: "Keep calm and occupy British consulate."