Chinese state-run media triumphantly declared the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement "defeated" Friday and warned domestic and foreign "hostile forces" against destabilising the city, after police swept away its main protest site.

Traffic streamed through the heart of Hong Kong for the first time in more than two months after Thursday's police swoop, which cleared the sprawling camp and saw nearly 250 arrests.

"The defeat of the 'umbrella revolution' has... sent a clear message to hostile forces -- both local and overseas," the government-published China Daily said in an editorial.

"On matters of principle, the central government will never make any concessions.

"And in a free and prosperous civil society such as Hong Kong, there is simply no soil for political schemers to advance their agenda."

Protesters are calling for fully free leadership elections for the semi-autonomous city in 2017, but the Chinese government has insisted a loyalist committee vet the candidates. Campaigners say this would ensure the selection of a pro-Beijing stooge.

A British colony until 1997, Hong Kong enjoys civil liberties not seen on the Chinese mainland, but fears have been growing that these freedoms are being eroded.

The China Daily editorial was echoed by Rita Fan, Hong Kong's delegate to Beijing's rubber-stamp parliament.

"From the beginning to the end, I felt the idea of Occupy was wrong -- to attain the goal it sets is impossible," she said.

"I hope the people taking part in Occupy think about who will benefit from the things they are doing now."

Demonstrators feel their lengthy occupation has put the democracy movement on the map with Beijing and the local administration, after it brought parts of the city to a standstill and saw tens of thousands on the street at its height.

But it has achieved no political concessions from either Hong Kong's leaders or the Chinese government, with both branding the protests "illegal".

"With the traffic flowing and lives of people going back to normal, I believe Hong Kong residents will be happy," the city's financial secretary John Tsang said Friday -- the government's first official response since the operation ended.

- 'New resistance' -

The east-west artery through Hong Kong's Admiralty business district had been blocked since September by the sprawling protest site in a campaign that demonstrators say has changed the city's vexed relationship with Beijing forever, and which has polarised public opinion.

Protest leaders said they would continue to push for reform despite a lack of concessions.

"If we win the support of the young people regarding democracy... there is a greater chance to achieve universal suffrage," teenage student leader Joshua Wong said on Friday.

Many young people have engaged with politics for the first time during the mass protests.

Benny Tai, leader of the Occupy Central campaign group, also warned of more action to come.

"If the problem of political reform is not handled appropriately I believe the next phase there will be new resistance actions. Would it be long-term occupation of streets? Maybe not," he said.

But analysts said the pro-democracy movement -- from students to legislators -- would have to become more coherent if it were to win any reforms.

"They need to act together to lobby and negotiate with the (Hong Kong) administration and Beijing. That would also give the Hong Kong people the impression that they speak with one voice and are much more organised," said political analyst Willy Lam of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Public support for the movement waned as the weeks of protests wore on and the campaign splintered in different directions.

Tiny remnants of the protest remained on Friday at Admiralty, where workers scrubbed hard to rid bus stops, buildings and roads of stickers and graffiti.

Small pockets of protesters still remain in other parts of the city -- around a dozen are holding the fort at the site in the shopping hub of Causeway Bay, where tents and stalls still block traffic.

"We will stay here until the last moment," 24-year-old Pan Chong told AFP.

There are also 30 tents at the government headquarters.

"When you're so involved, you forget all the other negative things. I wouldn't miss this opportunity for the world," a 70-year-old retiree and protester, who gave his name as Gregory, told AFP.

Timeline of Hong Kong pro-democracy protests
Hong Kong (AFP) Dec 11, 2014 - Hong Kong police swooped on the city's main pro-democracy protest site on Thursday, clearing away tents and barricades after more than two months of rallies.

Here is a timeline of key dates in Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement.

June 10: Beijing issues a "White Paper" on Hong Kong that -- according to democracy campaigners -- shows that the city's much-cherished freedoms could be revoked at any time.

June 30: 800,000 people vote in favour of greater democratic freedoms than Beijing has proposed in an unofficial referendum organised by the protest group Occupy Central.

August 31: China insists on its right to vet candidates for Hong Kong's next leadership elections in 2017. In response, Occupy Central and other groups vow to embark on an "era of civil disobedience" including mass sit-ins.

September 22: University students begin a week-long boycott of classes. Around 150 student protesters storm government headquarters four days later and occupy a courtyard in the complex. Police use pepper spray to repel them. The protesters defend themselves with their now emblematic umbrellas.

September 28: With parts of the government complex besieged, Occupy Central joins the students announcing it has begun its civil disobedience campaign. A major street opposite government headquarters is taken over by protesters. In response riot officers fire tear gas and crowd numbers swell as anger mounts over the police action.

October 3: Student leaders agree to Hong Kong leader CY Leung's offer of talks. But chaos later erupts in Mong Kok, a busy working-class shopping district taken over by protesters, when government loyalist thugs attack demonstrators. Student leaders call off talks a day later, accusing police of failing to act over violent attacks against them.

October 6: Protest numbers dwindle but demonstrators remain in control of barricades across the city. Protest leaders agree to a resumption of talks, but they collapse day later as the government pulls out.

October 21: Leung is criticised for telling foreign media that free elections would result in the poor dominating the city's politics. Talks between protesters and the government resume but no progress is made.

November 15: Three student protesters are stopped from travelling to Beijing, where they had planned to seek talks with Chinese authorities.

November 18: Protesters attempt to storm Hong Kong's parliament, triggering clashes with police, as court-ordered clearances get underway.

November 26: Hundreds of police clear a protest site in the Mong Kok district and reopen a main road.

November 30: Police use pepper spray to fend off hundreds of demonstrators trying to surround the government headquarters, with clashes spilling into the following day. Student leaders including Joshua Wong, the teenage demonstrator who has become one of the faces of the protest movement, announce a hunger strike, which Wong ends four days later.

December 11: Hong Kong police dismantle the city's main pro-democracy site, clearing away tents and barricades after more than two months of rallies, and hauling off a hard core of protesters who nevertheless vow that their struggle lives on.