Hong Kong protesters refuse to budge

Several thousand demonstrators remained on the streets of Hong Kong into the early hours of Monday morning, the same day the government has set as a guideline for mass protests to end.

"We're afraid there may be a police crackdown, so we came here to support. The more people we have, the harder it is for the police to clear," 25-year-old protester Lester Leung told news agency DPA.

On Sunday, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying ordered the occupied sites in the financial hub be cleared by the start of the work week so that businesses and schools could return to normal operations. In return for their compliance, the leader of the semi-autonomous region also promised to resume negotiations with the Hong Kong Federation of Students, which had halted talks after alleging that police had failed to protect them.

Activists complied partially to the government order by clearing away some of the barricades overnight on Monday. Initial reports also indicated that many supporters had left popular sites, such as the Mong Kok district, in favor of reinforcing the movement's presence in both the central Admiralty district and in front of government headquarters.

Student leader Alex Chow, who has been a prominent figure in the pro-democracy demonstrations, indicated that those who had left would soon return.

"People need rest, but they will come out again. It doesn't mean the movement is diminishing. Many people still support it," Chow said, according to the Associated Press news agency.

Although police spokesperson Steve Hui said security officers would "take any necessary action" if protesters remained in place after the deadline, it was not immediately clear whether that rule still applied if demonstrators stayed on the streets, but out of the way.

Beijing 'most powerful' democracy supporter

China's state-run People's Daily weighed in on the continued protests on Sunday, saying pro-democracy supporters were misdirected.

"This is not a struggle between democracy and non-democracy, but merely different understandings on the realization and implementation methods of democracy. In the final analysis, the central government is the most powerful supporter of democracy in Hong Kong," the pro-Beijing daily wrote in a commentary.

China has refused to answer the movement's demands that it reverse a decision it made last month, which gives a 1,200-person committee the task of vetting would-be candidates for chief executive in Hong Kong's 2017 elections.

Many residents in the semi-autonomous region have decried the law, saying that potentially excluding candidates would undermine Hong Kong's first leadership election by universal suffrage. Holding democratic elections, eventually with everyone granted a vote, was one of the terms of the "one country, two systems" agreement reached with Beijing when colonial power Britain relinquished control of the city in 1997.

They have vowed to continue protests until Beijing changes the law and current Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying resigns.

kms/msh (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)