Hong Kong police move to close last protest site

HONG KONG — Hong Kong police on Monday gave protesters 30 minutes to clear out of the third and final pro-democracy protest camp, putting an end to demonstrations that have blocked traffic in the southern Chinese city's streets for 2 1/2 months.

Police told the protesters to leave "immediately" from the short stretch of road in Causeway Bay.

A small group of protest leaders chanted "we will be back" and called on Leung Chun-ying, Hong Kong's chief executive, to step down.

This past week authorities shut down the protesters' main camp near the heart of the city's financial district and arrested 249 people who refused to leave for unlawful assembly.

The student-led protesters rejected Beijing's plan to screen all candidates in the first-ever elections for Hong Kong's top leader, but failed to win significant concessions from the government.

However, many say the protest movement sparked a wider political awakening among the city's residents, especially the young. Protest leaders vowed to keep up their campaign of civil disobedience through other methods to continue pressuring the government for genuine democracy.

Protesters at the camp had been resigned to eventually being removed after the main site was shut down in an orderly and peaceful operation on Thursday and had already begun packing up their things.