Timeline of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests

Pro-democracy protesters gather at Tamar, near the government headquarters in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong on Dec 1, 2014. Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests are now into the third month. With frustrations mounting, Chief Executive Leung
Pro-democracy protesters gather at Tamar, near the government headquarters in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong on Dec 1, 2014. Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests are now into the third month. With frustrations mounting, Chief Executive Leung Chun Ying has hinted that further police action may be imminent in his most forceful comments in recent weeks. -- PHOTO: AFP

Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests are now into the third month. Here are the key dates in the pro-democracy movement:

June 10: Beijing issues a White Paper on Hong Kong that democracy campaigners say shows that the city's much-cherished freedoms could be revoked at any time.

June 30: 800,000 people vote in favour of greater democratic freedoms in an unofficial referendum organised by the protest group Occupy Central.

August 31: China insists on its right to vet candidates for Hong Kong's next leadership election in 2017. In response, Occupy Central and other groups vow to embark on an "era of civil disobedience" including mass sit-ins.

September 22: University students begin a week-long boycott of classes.

September 26: Around 150 student protesters storm government headquarters and occupy a courtyard in the complex. Police use pepper spray to repel them. The protesters defend themselves with their now emblematic umbrellas.

September 28: With parts of the government complex besieged, Occupy Central joins the students, announcing that it has begun its civil disobedience campaign. A major street opposite government headquarters is taken over by protesters. In response, riot officers fire tear gas and crowd numbers swell with many apparently moved to join the protest in anger at the police action.

October 1: Celebrations of Communist China's National Day takes place against a backdrop of noisy pro-democracy protests throughout the city.

October 2: Chief Executive Leung rejects protester demands that he resign but offers to send his deputy to talk to demonstrators.

October 3: Student leaders agree to Mr Leung's offer of talks. But chaos later erupts in Mong Kok, a busy working-class shopping district taken over by protesters, when government loyalist thugs attack demonstrators.

October 4: Student leaders call off talks, accusing police of failing to act over violent attacks against them. Tens of thousands gather for a mass peace rally in central Hong Kong in response to the assaults.

October 6: Protest numbers dwindle but demonstrators remain in control of barricades across the city. Protest leaders agree to a resumption of talks.

October 8: Mr Leung comes under pressure over his failure to declare two payments totalling HK$50 million (S$8.4 million) from Australian engineering company UGL received while in office.

October 9: Democracy activists vow to ratchet up their campaign, joining with pan-democratic lawmakers who vow to gridlock government committees they control. Talks collapse as government pulls out.

October 10: Protesters announce their intention to remain on Hong Kong's streets for a long-term fight as US lawmakers urge President Barack Obama to press their concerns over the lack of democratic development in Hong Kong to Beijing.

Some 100,000 gather at Harcourt Road in Admiralty to protest the cancelled talks.

October 11: Student groups - Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) and Scholarism - issue open letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, demanding a democratic system and a Hong Kong government that is accountable to citizens. Chief Secretary Carrie Lam says the talks are ditched because of the students' persistent calls to escalate action.

October 12: Mr Leung gives his first lenghty interview since the crisis erupted on TVB, saying he will not resign, and calling the Occupy movement a "mass movement that has spun out of control". He also says for Beijing to rescind its rules on Hong Kong's chief executive election is impossible, and the use of tear gas on protesters was one taken by the police.

October 13: The police remove some protest barricades at the Admiralty site and Mong Kok. The protesters in turn build bamboo scaffolding as reinforcement. Occupy Central issues a statement calling upon the government to remove the barricades.

October 14: More clashes in Admiralty at night, with the police using pepper spray and batons on protesters. Protesters manage to hold on.

October 15: While the police move in to clear area near the Chief Executive's office in Admiralty, they arrest 45 people, including Civic Party member Ken Tsang. Footage shot and aired by TVB shows police officers beating up Mr Tsang for minutes, sparking a wave of anger among protesters, who surround the police headquarters. British Prime Minister David Cameron says his country should stand up for Hong Kong rights.

October 16: Mr Leung says talks between government officials and student leader may start next week. A police spokesman says the officers alleged to beat up Mr Tsang have been suspended. A US State Department spokesman says the US is "deeply concerned" by the alleged beating.

October 17: The police clear Mong Kok protest in the morning, but protesters return shortly, numbering 9,000 by nightfall. More clashes erupt.

October 18: Chief Secretary Carrie Lam announces talks with students are scheduled for Oct 21.

October 19: Mr Leung blames "external forces" for protests. More violent clashes break out in Mong Kok.

October 20: The Supreme Court of Hong Kong enacts a preliminary injunction to ban demonstrators from occupying roads in Mong Kok. HKFS says it will not retreat.

October 21: Government officials and student leaders hold two hours of televised talks as protesters listen from screens set up on the streets. Both sides say their piece but, as has been widely expected, there is no breakthrough.

October 22: 60 people march from Admiralty to Government House to protest Mr Leung's remarks quoted by The New York Times that open elections would give poorer residents a voice, and "you would end up with that kind of politics and policies".

The Chinese government warns foreign artists against supporting the protests, as Kenny G visits the protest site.

October 23: A yellow banner saying "I want real universal suffrage" is unfurled on Hong Kong's Lion Rock. The authorities take it down.

October 24: Men wearing face masks storm protest site on Nathan Road, dismantling barricades and attacking people.

October 26: A planned referendum organised by the various groups of the Umbrella Movement over the weekend is adjourned in light of differing opinions.

October 28: Hongkongers mark one month of the protests with 87 seconds of silence, to represent the 87 tear gas canisters fired on protesters by the police. HKFS requests meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

October 29: Pro-Beijing lawmaker James Tien to step down following his call for Mr Leung to resign.

November 4: HKFS representatives announce plan to travel to Beijing during Apec Summit, hoping to meet central government officials.

November 5: More clashes in Mong Kok. Activists hold a protest march calling for Beijing to release the nearly 100 mainland Chinese who have been detained over the past month for supporting protests.

November 6: HKFS abandons plans to visit Beijing during Apec Summit.

November 9: Hundreds of pro-democracy protesters wearing yellow ribbons march to the China Liaison Office in Hong Kong.

November 11: Ms Lam says "no more room for dialogue with the students" and calls on them to leave protest sites peacefully. According to sources, 7,000 police may be deployed to help bailiffs enforce court injunctions ordering Occupy protesters off designated roads.

November 13: Members of HKFS, including secretary-general Alex Chow, plan to go to Beijing on Nov 15 to request meeting with central government leaders.

November 14: High Court rejects appeal bid against Occupy site clearance order.

November 15: HKFS representatives Alex Chow, Eason Chung, and Nathan Law are not allowed to board the plane to Beijing and are told that their "Home Return Permits" have been revoked.

November 17: The police are ready to support bailiffs in enforcing a court injunction that orders people to stop blocking access to the Citic Tower in Admiralty, says a government statement.

November 18: Bailiffs and the police peacefully clear a protest area in Admiralty.

November 19: Protesters clash with the police outside Legislative Council building. a small group tries to break into the building. Windows are smashed.

November 25: Scuffles break out between the police as an operation to clear protest site in Mong Kok turns chaotic in the afternoon, after proceeding relatively peacefully in the morning. Thousands gather by nightfall, and in the escalating tensions, 80 are arrested.

November 26: A swift police operation clears a section of Nathan Road. Student leaders Joshua Wong and Lester Shum are arrested. The road is opened to traffic by the early afternoon.

November 27: Wong is released on bail, but banned from a large area of Mong Kok as a condition. He accuses the police of using violence on him.

November 29: Thousands of pro-democracy activists clash with the police in the early hours of the morning as they attempt to reclaim part of the protest site in Mong Kok. Later, Mr Leung admits that the frustration among young people over a lack of "upward mobility" was fuelling mass protests calling for free elections in the city.

November 30: A group of British lawmakers say that China will not let them enter Hong Kong. They are part of the Foreign Affairs Committee, which is looking into Britain's relations Hong Kong 30 years on from the 1984 Joint Declaration that set out the terms of the 1997 handover, and they plan to visit Hong Kong as part of the inquiry.

Thousands of protesters flood a road near the government headquarters in Admiralty, forcing traffic to turn tail. They swarm onto Lung Wo Road shortly after 10pm after the HKFS calls on them to surround the government complex in a move to escalate the protest. Scores of people wearing face masks and hard hats, and carrying cardboard shields, rush to the buildings where police officers in helmets beat them back with pepper spray and batons. Forty people were arrested.

December 1: A second day of chaos on the streets, as thousands of protesters force the temporary closure of the government headquarters, defying orders to retreat. Chief Executive Leung says police have been very tolerant but would now take "resolute action", suggesting that patience may have finally run dry.

SOURCE: AFP, Human Rights in China, Reuters

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