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HK Left Deeply Polarised by Protests: Analysts

The demolition of Hong Kong’s main protest camp ended a pro-democracy occupation that paralysed the city for two months, but the campaign has left the city deeply divided both politically and socially, analysts say.With the world watching, Hong Kong was transformed from a slick financial hub into a hive of political activism in late September as tens of thousands took to the streets in support of the student-led protests calling for free leadership polls in 2017. It was the biggest challenge to Beijing’s authority since the territory was handed over by Britain to China in 1997, and ignited fierce debate about HK’s future. Activists occupied  traffic arteries in the wake of China’s declaration in August that candidates for the city’s chief executive would first be vetted by a loyalist committee, a move campaigners said would see a pro-Beijing stooge take power. The struggle to reconcile the Western ideals of its colonial heritage with Chinese rule has long fomented an underlying division but the protests have cracked the city in two. 

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