Hong Kong moves to evict Occupy protesters

Hong Kong on Tuesday sent bailiffs to evict protesters camped outside the HSBC bank headquarters, the last outpost of the anti-capitalist "Occupy" movement in Asia. Unarmed officers began clearing around a dozen protesters from their camp on the ground floor plaza of the bank's office tower, which has been occupied since October last year. Some of the defiant demonstrators were carried out but others remained despite remonstrations from the court-appointed officers. "Do not illegally surround people," one protester shouted. Others chanted "Occupy Central" as security officers moved in. A Hong Kong court last month approved the eviction on the grounds that the protesters could not provide sufficient reason to continue to live on the property, which sits in the middle of some of the most expensive real estate in the world. The camp sprouted up in solidarity with the much larger Occupy movement which began in New York's Zuccotti Park last year and spread around the world. The movement has largely petered out since police forcibly dismantled the New York tent city in November. Only a handful sleep at the Hong Kong camp overnight, and during the day there are rarely more than 10, according to witnesses and bank officials. An HSBC spokesman did not reply to requests for comment on the eviction.