The protesters have been occupying the plaza as part of a copycat demonstration that followed the so-called Occupy Wall Street protest that began in New York last October, and quickly spread to other world financial centres, including London as well as such other Asian cities as Seoul and Tokyo.
According to a report by the BBC, the protesters in Hong Kong “have pitched about 20 tents in an alleyway on the ground floor of the HSBC building”, which the bank says it owns and which it “intends to use for community events”.
They reportedly ignored a request by the bank that they leave voluntarily by 29 May.
Those behind the Occupy Wall Street movement and those inspired by it were intentionally vague about their motives, but are generally understood to have wanted to highlight income inequality and what many see as a flawed capitalist system.
In London, the Occupy protesters in St Paul’s were evicted in May, and those in Finsbury Square, opposite Bloomberg’s London offices, a month later. The original New York protesters were ousted back in November.
According to press reports, a hearing in the HSBC/Occupy Central case has been set for 13 August.
