Bailiffs try to evict Hong Kong Occupy activists

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong's Occupy activists were resisting eviction from their camp underneath HSBC's Asian headquarters Tuesday as bailiffs cleared away their belongings.

The anti-capitalist protesters spent the day scuffling with bailiffs, who were trying to carry out a court order to clear the site in a large public passageway in the heart of the city's financial district.

The bailiffs pushed and shoved the activists, who had ignored a court order requiring them to leave the site by August 27. Some were carried away forcibly and taken outside a perimeter, where they were let go.

By midafternoon, 17 activists and supporters remained, surrounded by sofas and tables. Bailiffs catalogued and packed up their belongings, which included tents, bookcases, lamps and gas cookers.

Hong Kong's Occupy movement started camping out under the HSBC building in the heart of the city's financial district on Oct. 15, when protesters in the Asian financial center joined others around the world in a day of demonstrations against corporate excess and economic inequality.

The group, which according to media reports numbered more than 100 at its peak but dwindled to less than a dozen, has outlasted other Occupy encampments around the world that have been shut down by authorities.

The land under the HSBC building where the Occupy activists have been living is owned by the bank but legally designated a public passageway. A judge ruled that the activists' use of the space goes beyond its designated use.

The global movement is generally thought to have begun Sept. 17, when tents sprang up at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan.