CY Leung says authorities ready for 'furious resistance' ahead of Occupy clear-out

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying warned yesterday that "furious resistance" is expected from some protesters in the Admiralty Occupy camp when police help bailiffs execute a court order to clear part of the protest site.

He also rejected a student leader's call to restart the political reform process, saying it would effectively mean overturning Beijing's controversial framework for the 2017 election. But Joshua Wong Chi-fung, convenor of the student group Scholarism, insisted such a move would not violate the Basic Law.

A police source said the exact date for executing the injunction order and whether officers would clear areas not covered by the order are to be decided tomorrow in a joint meeting with the plaintiff and bailiffs, though it could take place as early as Wednesday.

Police recently estimated that the number of protesters remaining in Admiralty between 8am and 9am was just over 100. The source said 1,000 to 2,000 officers would be deployed to clear the site during the bailiffs' working hours between 9am and 5pm.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Qianhai in Shenzhen, Leung said that while he would not give a specific date for when police would clear the site, he expected there could be radical resistance from protesters.

"I think we should be prepared, both psychologically and operationally, that towards the end of the illegal occupation there will be fewer people taking part and they tend to be more radical. This seems to be the pattern in illegal social movements in other countries," Leung said. "Maybe during the clearance or when police help bailiffs to execute the order, there would be some rather furious resistance."