This was the final announcement Thursday morning in Hong Kong before workers moved in to dismantle a pro-democracy protest site that's been occupying the city's financial district for over two months.

Slowly, methodically, and over the course of the day barricades were removed, plastic was sawed off, and sandbags were emptied.

Police stood guard over the workers, and onlookers recorded the scene from inside a building as tents in the iconic Admiralty District were picked up and moved off the street.

The removal was generally peaceful, with most demonstrators choosing to pack their belongings well ahead of the planned clearance.

Others though vowed to remain until physically picked up and removed by police, who hauled them off, one by one.

Despite the clearance, the occupy movement has been a social watershed on the fringes of greater China, with people standing up to Beijing to preserve democracy largely denied on the mainland.

At their peak the prot