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Image of Asia: Clearing out Hong Kong protesters

Police officers stand guard before they move on to remove protesters from a road written "We Will Be Back" with tarps at an occupied area outside government headquarters in Hong Kong Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014. Hong Kong police on Thursday took away demonstrators who refused to leave the main pro-democracy protest camp and tore down their tents in a final push to retake streets occupied by activists for two and a half months. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) Police officers stand guard before they move on to remove protesters from a road written "We Will Be Back" with tarps at an occupied area outside government headquarters in Hong Kong Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014. Hong Kong police on Thursday took away demonstrators who refused to leave the main pro-democracy protest camp and tore down their tents in a final push to retake streets occupied by activists for two and a half months. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

By Associated Press December 11, 2014 1 min read

In this photo by Vincent Yu, pro-democracy student protesters in Hong Kong use tarps to form letters “We Will Be Back” before police moved in to disperse them. Signaling an end to a 2 ½-month Occupy protest movement, police in the former British colony on Thursday carried out a methodical peaceful operation to clear away barricades and remove protesters across a busy highway in the city’s financial district. The activists are pressing for free elections for the city’s leader in 2017, but China has ruled that a Beijing-friendly committee will screen all candidates.