Hong Kong Protest Leaders Surrender to Police

Leaders instrumental to the occupation of streets in Hong Kong by pro-democracy protesters have turned themselves into the authorities, further weakening a movement that has begun to wane after more than two months of direct action.

Reuters reports that the protest leaders surrendered to authorities less than a day after issuing a call to protesters to abandon the encampments that they have set up throughout the municipality.  

The three leaders who surrendered to police were Benny Tai, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, and Chan Kin-man, a sociology professor at Chinese University.

The three men appeared at a Hong Kong police station to provide authorities information about themselves, and were allowed to leave after doing so, according to Reuters.

Their decision to surrender puts them at odds with a younger group of protesters led by Joshua Wong. Wong is currently on a hunger strike and has called for protesters to return to the streets and continue their occupation.

The surrender by older, more senior members of the pro-democracy movement suggests that the movement is fracturing, threatening its ability to maintain large demonstrations, and by extension, its pressure on the government.

Reuters notes that at their peak, the protests drew hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers in the street, but in recent days those numbers have shrunk to a few hundred of hardcore demonstrators.

The closure of important roads and thoroughfares by the protesters has also eaten into their popular support, as business have suffered and commutes have been made longer by the occupations.

The protests have their origin in the fact that the Chinese government promised that Hong Kong could maintain the political systems in place after Britain handed the territory over to Beijing in 1997. This has not been the case, as candidates up for election in must first be approved by the government in Beijing. The protesters oppose any such approval process and are demanding open elections.