(Reuters) - Hong Kong pro-democracy activists recaptured parts of a core protest zone from police early on Saturday after hours of turmoil that the city's police chief warned undermined order and jeopardised public safety.

Dozens of people were injured in the skirmishes, including 18 police, which raged through the night as several thousand protesters squared off again police in the densely populated Mong Kok district.

At least 33 people were arrested, Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK reported.

Police used batons and pepper spray, and scuffled violently with activists, but they were eventually forced to pull back less than 24 hours after they re-opened most of the area to traffic.

The protests have been going on for three weeks and pose one of the biggest political challenges for China since the crushing of pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing in 1989.

Hong Kong Police Commissioner Andy Tsang broke three weeks of public silence to say his force had been "extremely tolerant" but had failed to stop protesters becoming more "radical or violent".

"To these protesters, you may think that your illegal acts have prevented the police in going about our duties, disrupted our deployments and even forced us to retreat," Tsang told a news conference.

"Superficially, that may be the case. But let me tell you this: these illegal acts are undermining the rule of law, undermining (what) Hong Kong has been relying on to succeed."

After police retreated, demonstrators swiftly stacked up barricades made out of packing crates and fences. Tsang said the reoccupation of the area "seriously undermined public order and seriously jeopardized public safety".

The protesters, led by a restive generation of students, have been demanding China's Communist Party rulers live up to constitutional promises to grant full democracy to the former British colony which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Hong Kong is ruled under a "one country, two systems" formula that allows the thriving capitalist hub wide-ranging autonomy and freedoms and specifies universal suffrage for Hong Kong as an eventual goal.

But Beijing ruled on Aug. 31 it would screen candidates who want to run for the city's chief executive in 2017, which democracy activists said rendered the universal suffrage concept meaningless. The protesters are demanding free elections for their leader.

'WE WILL STAY'

The clashes came just hours after Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leader Leung Chun-ying offered talks to student leaders next week in an attempt to defuse the protests that have grabbed global headlines with scenes of clashes and tear gas rising between some of the world's most valuable office buildings.

Leung's chief secretary, Carrie Lam, announced on Saturday that between student leaders and the city government would take place for two hours on Tuesday.

The Mong Kok area was calm later on Saturday with the number of protesters much smaller as activists rested. Police stood in formation away from the barricades.

Posters declaring "Reclaim Mong Kok!" had been plastered on shop fronts. The protesters who remained were bracing for another bruising night.

Student Angel So, 20, said she was determined to stop police clearing the area again. "We'll keep coming back," she said, as a friend, Terry Leung, nursed grazes on his arms and legs from scuffles with police.

Joshua Wong, a bookish 18-year-old whose fiery speeches have helped drive the protests, was defiant.

"We will stay and fight till the end," he told Reuters as he surveyed the crowd during the night, from on top of a subway station exit.

The escalation in the confrontation illustrates the dilemma faced by police in trying to strike a balance between law enforcement and not inciting the protesters who have been out since late last month in three core shopping and government districts.

Besides Mong Kok, about 1,000 protesters remained camped out on Hong Kong Island in a sea of tents on an eight-lane highway beneath skyscrapers close to government headquarters.

Despite Leung's offer of talks next week, few expect any resolution without more concrete concessions from authorities.

(AP) — Hong Kong police cleared more barricades Tuesday from pro-democracy protest zones that have choked off traffic in key business districts for more than two weeks, signaling authorities' growing impatience with the student-led activists.

Appearing to use a strategy of gradually chipping away at the three main protest zones, hundreds of police fanned out in the early hours to take down barriers that the protesters had erected overnight. Officers used electric saws and bolt cutters to take down bamboo scaffolding built in the Admiralty area after a mob of masked men stormed some of the barricades the day before.

A few dozen protesters who sat guarding one entrance to the main occupied zone after the police came were exhausted but defiant.

"I'm feeling a bit lost. There is no dialogue with the government, and the truth is we are affecting people's lives. But we can't bear to leave without getting any results," said Mark Li, a 21-year-old college student who sat at the front facing a line of policemen.

Li and his friends said they were not afraid of a crackdown but were weary of police tactics to weaken their movement.

"I just hope we can keep fighting in the long term. It won't end so quickly — it's just a stalemate at the moment," said Jason Wong, 19.

Police used sledgehammers to smash concrete used by protesters to try to secure the barriers to the road. They dismantled barriers of plywood, trash cans, wooden pallets and other objects blocking the road, which runs parallel to a major highway that has become the protesters' main camp.

Before dawn, when protesters' numbers are lowest, police also removed metal barricades from another protest camp on a road in the nearby Causeway Bay shopping area to free up a lane for traffic.

By gradually reducing the protest areas from the edges and acting during the quiet morning hours, the police appear to want to avoid the sort of combative confrontation — using tear gas and pepper spray — that backfired two weeks ago, when the street protests started.

Police will continue to take down barriers set up by protesters, spokesman Steve Hui said. He said officers arrested 23 men in Monday's violent clashes, when masked men and taxi drivers led a crowd of several hundred who tried to charge the protest zone.

The protesters want the government to drop plans for a pro-Beijing committee to screen candidates in the territory's first direct elections, promised for 2017. They also demand that Hong Kong's deeply unpopular Beijing-backed leader, Leung Chun-ying, resign.

State media in mainland China downplayed the crisis. In its noon report, state broadcaster CCTV carried images of barricades being dismantled and street interviews with residents cheering the reopening of roads, complaining about the loss of business, and chiding the students for being naive and lacking life experience.

At the main protest zone outside Hong Kong's government headquarters, a tent city has sprung up as dozens of demonstrators camp out to defend the highway they have taken over. Many said they will not budge.

"No one knows how long this will last. I'm not afraid of the police and I will fight to the end," said Alan Yip, 24, who quit his job to join the movement. "If they come in here I will sit down and let them take me away."

(AP) — A Chinese state-run newspaper has blamed the United States for being behind the pro-democracy protests that have rattled Hong Kong — a claim the U.S. State Department strongly rejected.

Thousands of people, meanwhile, returned for sit-ins in Hong Kong's main protest zone Saturday, responding to organizers' calls to boost a civil disobedience campaign that has paralyzed key roads and streets in the city center for two weeks.

Students and activists leading the protests remain locked in a stalemate with the government, which has called off scheduled negotiations and instead urged protesters to retreat from the streets. Protest leaders have vowed to keep up the demonstrations until the government responds to demands for voters to have a greater say in choosing Hong Kong's leader.

In a commentary published on the front page of the Communist Party-run People's Daily's overseas edition Friday, the newspaper said the National Endowment for Democracy, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group, became involved in the Hong Kong protests as part of a U.S. strategy to undermine foreign governments in the name of promoting democracy.

Citing unidentified media reports, the commentary claimed that Louisa Greve, a director at NED, met with Hong Kong protest leaders months ago to discuss the movement.

The group did not immediately reply to an email requesting comment Saturday. According to its website, the organization is devoted to "the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world," and is funded largely by the U.S. Congress.

When asked about the U.S. State Department's role in the Hong Kong protests, department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Friday that U.S. officials "categorically reject accusations that we are manipulating the activities of any person, group or political party in Hong Kong."

"What is happening there is about the people of Hong Kong, and any assertion otherwise is an attempt to distract from the issue at hand, which is the people expressing their desire for universal suffrage in an election that provides a meaningful choice of candidates representative of their own voters' will," Harf said.

(Reuters) - Hundreds of student activists camped overnight at major protest sites in Hong Kong as the democracy movement sought to regather momentum after the government called off talks with its leaders aimed at defusing unrest in the global financial hub.

Protests escalated late last month, after Beijing's decision on August 31 to impose conditions for nominations that would effectively stop pro-democracy candidates from contesting an election of the city's chief executive set for 2017.

The occupation movement suffered a noticeable dip in support over the past week, but strong crowds of over ten thousand returned on Friday evening for a series of rallies in the former British colony.

By Saturday afternoon many protesters were coming back again to join the stalwarts who had camped overnight.

"Hong Kong is my home, we are fighting for Hong Kong's future, our future," Lawrence Chan, a 23 year-old media studies student, who has participated in the protests from the outset, told Reuters.

Hong Kong Chief Secretary Carrie Lam said on Thursday that the government had called off talks with the students because of their persistent calls to escalate action.

"It seems like they (the government) don't want to (have a) conversation with us. But I think this amount of people shows that we really want to solve the problem with the government," said Kiki Choi, a 25-year-old art teacher among the protesters.

Since taking to the streets around two weeks ago, the activists have blockaded major roads around the government precinct in Admiralty, as well as the shopping districts of Central and Causeway Bay.

At Friday's rallies, protest leaders urged demonstrators to prepare for a protracted struggle instead of expanding the protests geographically. The protests have led to some resentment among the public due to the resulting traffic jams and loss of business.

It was unclear how long Hong Kong authorities will tolerate the occupation or how the standoff might be resolved. For now, however, the police presence remains thin with authorities seemingly reluctant to risk fresh flare-ups.

Riot police had cracked down on protesters massing near the government headquarters on Sept. 28, but the authorities have taken a softer line since.

Over one hundred colorful tents were sprinkled across the eight-lane Harcourt Road highway, among scores of red and blue portable marquees serving as supply and first aid stations; stocked with water, biscuits, noodles and cereals.

"We have tents here to show our determination that we're prepared for a long term occupation," said Benny Tai, one of the leaders of the movement, emerging bleary-eyed on Saturday morning from a tent pitched outside the Hong Kong government's headquarters.

Scores of people ran a marathon in support of the students early on Saturday, and bridges remained festooned with umbrellas, protest art demanding full democracy and satirical images lampooning Leung Chun-ying, the city's Beijing-backed leader.

The 'Occupy Central' protests, an idea conceived over a year ago referring to the Central business district, have presented Beijing with one of its biggest political challenges since it crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in and around Tiananmen Square in the Chinese capital in 1989.

NO SIMPLE WAY OUT

In the first direct public comments by a senior Chinese leader in response to the protests, Premier Li Keqiang said Hong Kong authorities had the ability to protect the city's economic prosperity and social stability.

"Maintaining the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong is not only in China's interests but is mostly in the interests of the people of Hong Kong," Li said in Germany on Friday.

Since Britain handed back control in 1997, China has ruled Hong Kong through a "one country, two systems" formula which allows wide-ranging autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland and specifies universal suffrage as an eventual goal.

The Communist Party leadership has dismissed the Hong Kong protests as illegal and has left Leung to find a solution.

Beijing fears that calls for democracy in Hong Kong could spread to the mainland, with China already facing separatist unrest in far-flung Tibet and Xinjiang.

Leung has so far ignored protesters demands for full democracy and their calls for him to quit. Earlier this week, some lawmakers demanded that anti-graft officers investigate a $6.4 million business payout to Leung, while in office.

The leader of Hong Kong's largest pro-Beijing political party, Tam Yiu-chung, conceded after a late meeting with Leung that while the protests should be cleared as soon as possible: "It is not a simple thing and it is not a ripe time now."

(Reuters) - Pro-democracy protesters faced off against supporters of Chinese rule in Hong Kong's teeming Mong Kok district early on Saturday, in a tense confrontation that has undermined hopes for talks aimed at ending a week of turmoil.

Scuffles broke out late on Friday between people demanding full democracy in the former British colony, including a free voting system when they come to choose a new leader in 2017, and residents who want the demonstrations to end.

Protesters said they believed criminal gangs, or Triads, whose base is in the densely populated Mong Kok, were involved.

Police intervened to prevent an escalation in the violence, but a rowdy crowd of around two thousand filled a major intersection in the small hours of Saturday and the atmosphere remained highly charged as police officers in riot gear tried to keep them under control.

Demonstrations across Hong Kong have ebbed and flowed since Sunday, when police used pepper spray, tear gas and batons to break them up in the worst unrest in Hong Kong since the former British colony was handed back to Chinese rule in 1997.

At times, tens of thousands of people gathered to block roads and buildings in central areas, bringing them to a virtual standstill.

Student activists, established protest groups and ordinary Hong Kongers have joined forces to present Beijing with one of its biggest political challenges since it violently crushed pro-democracy protests in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

One of the main student groups behind the "Occupy Central" protest movement said it would pull out of planned talks with the Hong Kong government, because it believed authorities had colluded in the attacks on demonstrators in Mong Kok.

"The government and police today connived in the attack by Triads ... on peaceful occupiers, so they have shut the way to dialogue and must bear the consequences," the Hong Kong Federation of Students said in a strongly worded statement.

The notorious Triads operate bars, nightclubs and massage parlors across Mong Kok, an area of high-rise apartment blocks some distance from the main protest areas.

Witnesses said anti-Triad police wearing trademark black vests were active in the area on Friday.

Police have defended their handling of fighting in the area, saying they had exercised "dignity and restraint and tried our best to keep the situation under control".

But Amnesty International issued a statement criticizing them for "(failing) in their duty to protect hundreds of peaceful pro-democracy protesters from attacks by counter demonstrators."

"NO PAIN, NO GAIN"

Earlier this week, Hong Kong's leader Leung Chun-ying rejected protesters' demands to resign, and he and his Chinese government allies made clear they would not back down.

He did, however, offer talks with leaders of a movement that has shaken Hong Kong's image as a stable financial hub.

Kit Lui, a 32-year-old restaurant owner sitting under a tent in the middle of the Mong Kok crowd, said she understood why people blamed protesters for harming the economy, but that it was a price worth paying.

"No pain, no gain," she said. "Yes, maybe these few days the economy will be hurt, but if we don't speak up this time the situation will get worse and worse. It's not the future that we want to see. We are worried about our future.

"Frankly speaking, I don't know where this revolution will go," she added, reflecting growing uncertainty among the pro-democracy movement, as numbers at some protest sites dwindle and public displeasure with the demonstrations mounts.

Teacher Victor Ma, 42, summed up the mood of many residents: "We are all fed up and our lives are affected. You don't hold Hong Kong citizens hostage because it's not going to work. That's why the crowd is very angry here."

China rules Hong Kong through a "one country, two systems" formula underpinned by the Basic Law, which accords Hong Kong some autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland and has universal suffrage as an eventual goal.

But Beijing decreed on Aug. 31 it would vet candidates who want to run for chief executive at an election in 2017, angering democracy activists, who took to the streets.

While Leung made an apparent concession by offering talks, Beijing restated its resolute opposition to the protests and a completely free vote in Hong Kong.

Facing separatist unrest in far-flung and resource-rich Tibet and Xinjiang, Beijing is unlikely to give way in Hong Kong, fearful that calls for democracy there could spread to the mainland, especially if successful.

The economic impact of the unrest has begun to be felt.

Hong Kong's benchmark share index, the Hang Seng, plunged 7.3 percent in September, in part because of the uncertainty surrounding the protests, and was down 2.6 percent on the week on Friday.

Luxury goods companies have taken a substantial hit, analysts say, with wealthy Chinese avoiding Hong Kong and going to other cities to shop instead.

(AP) — Hong Kong's embattled leader refused to step down Thursday, as pro-democracy protesters have demanded, and instead offered talks to defuse a week of massive street demonstrations that are the biggest challenge to Beijing's authority since China took control of the former British colony in 1997.

Student leaders of the protests did not immediately respond to the announcement by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. A wider pro-democracy group that joined the mass protests, Occupy Central, welcomed the talks but insisted that Leung still should resign.

Occupy Central "hopes the talks can provide a turning point in the current political stalemate," it said in a statement. "However, we reiterate our view that Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying is the one responsible for the stalemate, and that he must step down."

Leung made his comments at a news conference just minutes before a deadline that had been set by the protesters for him to quit.

"I will not resign," he said.

Leung asked the territory's top civil servant, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, to arrange the talks.

Lam, standing beside Leung, said she would seek to meet with student leaders of the protests as soon as possible.

"I hope both sides will be satisfied," she said. "Students had wanted a public meeting but I hope that we can have some flexibility to discuss details."

The protesters want Beijing to reverse its decision that all candidates in an inaugural 2017 election for chief executive must be approved by a committee of mostly pro-Beijing elites. They say China is reneging on its promise that the city's top leader will be chosen through "universal suffrage."

Before Leung's announcement, the heads of two major universities whose students joined in launching the protests appeared before a jittery crowd massed in front of the entrance to the leader's office and appealed for calm.

Afterward, the atmosphere was palpably calmer, but many protesters expressed disappointment.

"They didn't mention anything about when they are going to talk, no details, nothing," said Joanna Wong, 28, who works in the aviation industry. Wong said she would stay at the protest site to see how the student groups react to the announcement.

Marketing professional Heiman Chan, 25, said the talks should take place right away.

"If we need to wait two or three days, the crowd will become smaller and there will be fewer people to support this movement," she said. "That's why the government just keeps us waiting."

Earlier in the day, police brought in supplies of tear gas and other riot gear, and the protesters prepared face masks and goggles as tensions rose in the standoff outside the imposing government compound near the waterfront.

Police warned of serious consequences if the protesters tried to surround or occupy government buildings, as they had threatened to do if Leung didn't resign by the end of Thursday.

Leung said shortly before midnight that the authorities would continue to tolerate the protests as long as participants did not charge police lines, but urged them to stop their occupation of much of the downtown area.

"I urge students not to charge into or occupy government buildings. ... It's not about my personal inconvenience," he said. "These few days the protesters' occupation of key areas of the city has already seriously affected Hong Kong's economy, people's daily lives and government functioning."

The People's Daily, published by China's ruling Communist Party, warned in a commentary Thursday of "chaos" in the city of 7 million and expressed strong support for Leung.

It said the central government firmly backed the Hong Kong police — who were criticized for using tear gas against protesters last weekend — "to handle illegal activities in accordance with the law."

Ivy Chan, a 25-year-old social worker, said she hoped the proposed talks would yield results and that tear gas wouldn't be used again.

"What we want to fight for is our freedom, and the free nomination of candidates for our chief executive," she said.

(Reuters) - In the heart of Mong Kok, one of the most densely populated districts on earth, an abandoned Hong Kong police van is enveloped in the student-led demonstrations paralyzing swathes of the city. Along with yellow ribbons and flowers, symbols of the city’s pro-democracy movement, protesters have taped a hand-written placard in Chinese and English to the side of the locked and undamaged vehicle.

“We can’t accept the Hong Kong police becoming the Gong An,” it reads - a reference to China’s feared Public Security Bureau, which enjoys virtually unfettered powers on the mainland.

The stranded police vehicle and the protesters’ warning encapsulate the dilemma that the mass protests pose for China’s rulers and the authorities in Hong Kong. They need to contain the campaign for democracy in one of Asia’s leading financial hubs without the tools employed on the mainland to suppress dissent, including sweeping powers of arrest, indefinite detention, compliant courts and a controlled media.

While People’s Liberation Army forces are stationed in Hong Kong, they have remained in their barracks. They will only be deployed on the streets if rioting and looting break out and the local police are unable to contain the violence, said two people with ties to the central government leadership.

“The mobilization of PLA troops in Hong Kong is a last resort and only if things got totally out of control," one of the people said.

As tens of thousands of protesters gather for a sixth day, their demand for the right to choose their leaders in fully democratic elections poses the biggest popular challenge to the ruling Communist Party since Chinese president Xi Jinping took power two years ago. The Umbrella Revolution, so called for the protesters’ use of umbrellas to shield against pepper spray, comes at an inopportune time for Xi. He is trying to steer a slowing economy while moving against powerful vested interests in one of the most wide-ranging purges and anti-corruption campaigns since the Communists came to power in 1949.

“It is a frontal challenge to their authority,” Regina Ip, a lawmaker and a top advisor to Hong Kong’s embattled political leader, chief executive Leung Chun-ying, says of the protests. “People have to understand how Beijing sees this... China feels threatened,” Ip told Reuters.

SKINNY 17-YEAR-OLD

At the forefront of this challenge is student leader Joshua Wong Chi-fung, a skinny 17-year-old with a mop of straight black hair framing his angular face.

Last Friday, after a week-long student boycott of classes, Wong was demonstrating with hundreds of secondary school students outside the Hong Kong government’s harbor-front offices. It was 10 p.m. and some of the students were beginning to drift off when Wong picked up the microphone.

“Please everybody, don’t go just yet,” he pleaded in his crisp, staccato Cantonese through the shrill feedback of the speaker. “Please give me some face and listen before leaving,” he joked. “Ok!” the students yelled back.

As Wong spoke, fellow student leaders Alex Chow and Lester Shum, followed by their colleagues, suddenly rushed the three-meter fence and gate protecting the government offices, shouting: “Charge, charge.”

Police arrested Wong immediately and took Chow and Shum into custody the next day. But legal limits on the power of the authorities soon frustrated their efforts to take the student leaders out of circulation.

In the High Court on Sunday evening, Justice Patrick Li Hon-leung ordered Wong’s immediate release, granting a writ of habeas corpus, one of the British-implemented protections that Hong Kong inherited from its former colonial master. Wong would have no such protection on the mainland where an equivalent right doesn’t exist and where protest leaders are often beaten and routinely detained for long periods without trial.

Wong’s lawyer, Michael Vidler, says Justice Li told the court that events might have taken a different course if Wong had not been detained for so long. In the two days Wong and his fellow student leaders were held without charge, tens of thousands of protesters had converged on the government offices and three other Hong Kong districts. About an hour before Justice Li ordered Wong’s release, riot police had fired volleys of tear gas in a bid to break up the demonstrations, the first time in decades that this riot control measure had been used against Hong Kong protesters.

Flanked by his lawyers, Wong pushed his right hand forward waist-high and flashed a defiant thumbs up as he walked free. His detention had provided the spark that galvanized the city’s pro-democracy movement and kick-started Occupy Central, a long-mooted plan to lock down the commercial heart of China’s most important financial center.

"DON'T REPEAT JUNE 4"

While leaders in Hong Kong consult with Beijing on how best to clear the streets, the student-dominated protests will be an unnerving reminder for Xi and other top party leaders of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations 25 years ago, in June 1989. That isn’t lost on the students. On Sogo Corner in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong’s neon-lit equivalent of New York’s Times Square, protesters have put up posters that carry the words “Don’t repeat June 4.”

Already, an image from the Hong Kong protests that draws a parallel with the iconic “tank man” photograph from the Tiananmen demonstrations has gone viral on social media. The image is drawn from a photograph of a protester holding two umbrellas aloft as he is enveloped in a cloud of tear gas.

The greatest fear for China’s leaders is that unrest could spread from Hong Kong to the mainland. While Chinese online censors have barred most discussion of the protests, during the first few days they failed to block searches for the Chinese expression for “umbrella revolution”. By Wednesday, they had caught up and the term had also been barred. For its part, the state-run media mostly limited its coverage of events in Hong Kong to official condemnations of the protests.

But there are signs that news of the demonstrations has penetrated the mainland firewall. Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a coalition of mainland and international human rights groups, said on Wednesday that dozens of mainland activists had been detained or intimidated for expressing support for Hong Kong’s protests. Reuters could not immediately confirm the detentions.

In Macau, the gambling hub that neighbors Hong Kong and where the mainland exerts more influence, several hundred protesters gathered in a central square Wednesday evening in support of the protests. Hong Kong has an independent judiciary and its citizens enjoy wide-ranging liberties, including freedom of speech and assembly, which is denied on the mainland.

NO EASY CHOICES

There are no easy choices for Xi or Leung, China’s handpicked man in Hong Kong. If they order a harsh crackdown, it could destroy Hong Kong’s reputation as a stable financial center, jeopardize investment in China and spark capital outflows from the mainland at a time when the Chinese economy is slowing markedly. China is aiming for economic growth of about 7.5 per cent this year. But a run of underwhelming data, including sagging industrial output and falling property prices, suggests expansion may fall short of that target.

A heavy-handed response could also fatally undermine the ‘one country two systems’ formula by which Hong Kong has been ruled since the 1997 handover and which China’s leaders have hoped would one day be extended to Taiwan. Already there have been protests in Taipei in solidarity with the Hong Kong students.

“One country, two systems has also been touted for Taiwan,” says Ken Kuo, a Taiwan exchange student living in Hong Kong. He joined the protests in the Admiralty district, where crowds have been largest. “But, as you can see, today’s Hong Kong will be tomorrow’s Taiwan if it is adopted.”

There is also no guarantee that greater force will end the protests. So far, the use of pepper spray and tear gas has only emboldened protesters. It has also won them greater sympathy from residents of the city who view these police tactics as excessive. Trucks from sympathetic businesses have delivered food and bottled water to the protest areas.

The demonstrators have also adopted tactics that make it difficult for the authorities to crack down. Despite the humidity, thunderstorms, crowding and limited facilities in Hong Kong this week, the crowds have been highly disciplined, avoiding violence and confrontation since after the early attempt by the small group of students to force their way into government headquarters.

TIDY REBELS

Teams of volunteers pick up rubbish and litter, even sorting it for recycling. Supplies of food and water are organized in neat stockpiles along the edges of the main traffic arteries in the center of Hong Kong. And the demonstrators, who are blocking key roads, obediently part for ambulances and emergency vehicles.

Protest leaders constantly remind the crowds that they must be peaceful and orderly. On Wednesday morning, when a small group of anti-Occupy Central protesters arrived in Admiralty district, pro-democracy demonstrators linked hands protectively around them to ensure there was no chance of a clash. 

After the use of tear gas and pepper spray only succeeded in stoking the demonstrations, police beat a tactical retreat, distancing themselves from the main centers of protest. The hope is that the demonstrators will tire and melt away, said a senior police officer in Hong Kong. In what appears to be part of this plan, pro-mainland groups that routinely mount noisy counter-demonstrations to pro-democracy marches have been largely unseen on the streets.

But if the standoff worsens and Xi is seen to be unsuccessful in ending the protests, that could work against him, says Cheng Li, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Xi and his supporters have launched a sweeping corruption crackdown across the mainland, partly designed to take down a dangerous rival, retired senior leader Zhou Yongkang, who used to head China’s pervasive security apparatus. The ongoing purge of Zhou and his sprawling network of relatives, political allies and business supporters has convulsed leadership politics in Beijing. A misstep from Xi that leads to ongoing instability in Hong Kong could provide ammunition for his rivals.

FISSURES IN BEIJING

For now, China’s leaders are united in their attitude toward Hong Kong, said Li. If the confrontation escalates, Xi could become vulnerable to attack from other leaders who might be unhappy over his corruption crackdown or economic policies, he said.

“They are on the same page largely,” Li said of the leadership. “But if some dramatic events start to happen, they might start to have a different view.”

Xi will not back down on China’s decision that only a handful of Beijing-vetted candidates can stand for the next elections for Hong Kong’s chief executive in 2017, says lawmaker Regina Ip.

“In their eyes, the Hong Kong chief executive is more powerful than a provincial Chinese leader,” says Ip, who held talks in Beijing last month with Zhang Dejiang, China’s third-ranked leader and the top official responsible for Hong Kong. “From their perspective, it is unthinkable that a future leader of Hong Kong is not patriotic or that Hong Kong was allowed to become a base for subversion.”

One China-based Western diplomat likened the showdown in Hong Kong to a game of chicken. “Two cars speed toward one another,” the diplomat said. “Beijing’s strategy is to throw away the steering wheel so the other party has to swerve away first. It’s like that with full democracy.”

Pro-democracy forces are also standing firm. Even if the protests unwind, the Hong Kong and mainland authorities will still face the fundamental question posed by the demonstrators: Why can't educated, moderate and law-abiding Chinese people choose their own leaders? As the swelling protests indicate, Xi has yet to provide an answer that would satisfy protesters in Hong Kong or for that matter Taiwan's voters who have grown accustomed to changing their government at the ballot box.

Much of the pressure now falls on Leung. He must find a way to end the protests that will satisfy Beijing without completely alienating the residents of Hong Kong.

"HANDS OFF"?

The leadership in Beijing appears to have shifted the onus to him. "The central government did not pressure Hong Kong to disperse the protesters,” said another source with ties to the leadership in Beijing. "The Hong Kong government was proactive because it did not want to be perceived by the central government to be weak."

A person close to Leung who spoke on condition of anonymity said Beijing was being “very hands off” in what he described as a “critical” moment for the current administration in Hong Kong. He also said that Leung has “never” considered acceding to the protesters’ demand that he resign.

In his National Day speech on Wednesday, Leung seemed to suggest that giving all the city’s five million eligible voters the right to cast a ballot for candidates that were vetted by Beijing was better than no elections at all. “It is understandable that different people may have different ideas about a desirable reform package,” he said. “But it is definitely better to have universal suffrage than not.”

Leung will also be wary of the power of Hong Kong protesters when they take to the streets in big numbers. A 500,000-strong protest on July 1, 2003, stunned the Hong Kong government and eventually forced Beijing's hand-picked leader, Tung Chee-hwa, to step down. It marked the first time since the founding of the People’s Republic of China that the Communist Party was forced to back down in the face of popular pressure and jettison a senior leader.

Leung and Tung, now an advisor to the mainland government, stood side-by-side in Hong Kong at the National Day flag-raising ceremony, which marks the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic on October 1, 1949. The protest leaders didn’t disrupt the event. But as Leung, his top officials and dignitaries watched the raising of the Chinese national flag, shouts and chants could be clearly heard from the protesters in Admiralty district, a block behind them.

In an embarrassment to Leung, the protesters did force the Hong Kong authorities to cancel the traditional fireworks display, a centerpiece of the National Day celebrations that normally draws a huge crowd to the harbor front. And he had to travel by boat to the ceremony because the roads were blocked by the protests.

(AP) — Taiwan, an island that China's ruling Communist Party has long sought to bring into its fold under the same "one country, two systems" arrangement it has for Hong Kong, has thrown its support behind Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement.

Taiwanese leaders also have urged Beijing to live up to its pledges of autonomy in the former British colony or risk further alienating the Taiwanese public.

"If Hong Kong can soon achieve universal suffrage, it would be a win-win for Hong Kong and the mainland, and it can greatly help narrow the mental gap between residents on both sides of (the Taiwan Strait) and allow for the relations to develop positively," Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said in a statement.

"Otherwise, it may deepen the antipathy of Taiwan's public and hurt the future of relations between the two sides," Ma said in the statement, dated Tuesday.

In August, Beijing rejected a proposal for open nominations of candidates for Hong Kong's first-ever leadership election, promised for 2017. Instead, all candidates must continue to be picked by a panel that is mostly aligned with Beijing.

In response, tens of thousands of people have rallied in Hong Kong's streets since late last week to press demands for genuine democratic reforms that are in line with "one country, two systems," the arrangement negotiated for the 1997 return of the city from British to Chinese rule.

That constitutional arrangement initially was formulated by China's late Communist leader Deng Xiaoping in an attempt to peacefully reunify with Taiwan, where the nationalist government of the Republic of China settled in 1949 as its last stronghold after losing a civil war to the Communists on the mainland.

The nationalist government's ambitions to reclaim the mainland later fizzled out, and the island became a self-governing democracy, although there has never been a formal declaration of independence.

Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the "one country, two systems" arrangement for Taiwan again, only to see it openly rejected by both Ma and Taiwan's opposition party.

Speaking about the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, Huang Di-ying, spokesman for Taiwan's opposition Democratic Progressive Party, said the city's residents had received "a birdcage election law that made a mockery of what the people of Hong Kong had come to expect."

On Tuesday, Taiwan's governmental Mainland Affairs Council issued a statement declaring its support for the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong and invoking its significance for all Chinese people.

"People of Hong Kong have long had high hopes for the implementation of universal suffrage, using it to test if the mainland has truly fulfilled its promises under 'once country, two systems,'" the statement said.

Should Hong Kong's democracy move forward, the council said, "it will not only ensure the long-term stability of Hong Kong, but also be of profound significance to the long-term development" of relations between China and Taiwan and "for the development of democracy and rule of law for the entire Chinese people."

(Reuters) - Thousands of pro-democracy protesters thronged the rain-soaked streets of Hong Kong early on Wednesday, ratcheting up pressure on the pro-Beijing government that has called the action illegal and vowed to press ahead with National Day celebrations.

On the sixth day of a determined mass campaign to occupy sections of the city and express fury at a Chinese decision to limit voters' choices in a 2017 leadership election, there was little sign of momentum flagging.

That was despite widespread fears that police may use force to move crowds who have brought large sections of the Asian financial hub to a standstill and affected businesses from banks to jewellers.

Thunder, lightning and heavy rain failed to dampen spirits as protesters sought shelter under covered walkways, while police in raincoats and hats looked on passively nearby.

At the weekend, riot police had used tear gas, pepper spray and baton charges to try to quell the unrest, but since then tensions have eased as both sides appeared prepared to wait it out, at least for now.

Protests spread to Tsim Sha Tsui, one of the city's most popular shopping areas for mainland Chinese that would normally do roaring trade during the annual holiday marking the Communist Party's foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

But in the early morning hours, hundreds of demonstrators were milling around outside luxury stores and setting up makeshift barricades in anticipation of possible clashes. As in most parts of Hong Kong, the police presence was small.

M. Lau, a 56-year-old retiree, said he had taken to the streets of Hong Kong to protest in the 1980s, and wanted to do so again in a show of solidarity with a movement that has been led by students as well as more established activists.

"Later this morning I will come back," he said.

"I want to see more. Our parents and grandparents came to Hong Kong for freedom and the rule of law. This (protest) is to maintain our 160-year-old legal system for the next generation."

China rules Hong Kong under a "one country, two systems" formula that accords the former British colony a degree of autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China, with universal suffrage set as an eventual goal.

But when Beijing ruled a month ago that it would vet candidates wishing to run for Hong Kong's leadership, protesters reacted angrily and called for Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying to step down.

Student leaders had given Leung an ultimatum to come out and address the crowds before midnight on Tuesday, threatening to occupy more government facilities, buildings and public roads if he failed to do so.

Leung did not comply, but has said that Beijing would not back down in the face of protests. He also said Hong Kong police would be able to maintain security without help from People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops from the mainland.

AGGRESSIVE CENSORSHIP

Communist Party leaders in Beijing worry that calls for democracy could spread to the mainland, and have been aggressively censoring news and social media comments about the Hong Kong demonstrations.

Mainland Chinese visiting Hong Kong had differing views on the demonstrations, being staged under the "Occupy" banner.

"For the first time in my life I feel close to politics," said a Chinese tourist from Beijing who gave only her surname, Yu. "This is a historic moment for Hong Kong. I believe something like this will happen in China one day," added the 29-year-old.

But a woman surnamed Lin, from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, said the protesters' demands for a democratic election were "disrespectful to the mainland."

"Even though the government has brought a lot of development to Hong Kong, they don't acknowledge this," Lin said.

The protests are the worst in Hong Kong since China resumed its rule in 1997. They also represent one of the biggest political challenges for Beijing since it violently crushed pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Cracking down too hard could shake confidence in market-driven Hong Kong, which has a separate legal system from the rest of China. Not reacting firmly enough, however, could embolden dissidents on the mainland.

The deputy director of China's National People's Congress Internal and Judicial Affairs Committee, Li Shenming, wrote in the People's Daily: "In today's China, engaging in an election system of one-man-one-vote is bound to quickly lead to turmoil, unrest and even a situation of civil war."

NERVOUSNESS AT SENSITIVE TIME

Underlining nervousness among some activists that provocation on National Day could spark violence, students from Hong Kong University made an online appeal for people not to disturb the flag-raising ceremony.

"However much you dislike a country, disturbing her flag-raising ceremony is total disrespect and goes against the nature of democracy," it said, reminding readers that the international media was watching.

The outside world has looked on warily.

In Britain's strongest interjection yet, finance chief George Osborne urged China to seek peace and said the former colony's prosperity depended on freedom. Washington urged Hong Kong authorities "to exercise restraint and for protesters to express their views peacefully".

The events have also been followed closely in Taiwan, which has full democracy but is considered by Beijing as a renegade province that must one day be reunited with the mainland.

On the financial markets, Hong Kong shares fell to a three-month low on Tuesday, registering their biggest monthly fall since May 2012. Markets are closed on Wednesday and Thursday for the holidays.

The city's benchmark index has plunged 7.3 percent this month, and there were few indications that the protests are likely to end any time soon.

Over the last 24 hours, people have set up supply stations with water bottles, fruit, crackers, disposable raincoats, towels, goggles, face masks and tents, indicating they were in for the long haul.

"Even though I may get arrested, I will stay until the last minute," said 16-year-old John Choi. "We are fighting for our future."

(Reuters) - Hong Kong democracy protesters defied volleys of tear gas and police baton charges to stand firm in the centre of the global financial hub on Monday, one of the biggest political challenges for Beijing since the Tiananmen Square crackdown 25 years ago.

China wagged its finger at the student protesters, and warned against any foreign interference as they massed again in business and tourist districts of the city in the late afternoon.

"Hong Kong is China's Hong Kong," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying defiantly told a news briefing in Beijing.

The unrest, the worst in Hong Kong since China resumed its rule over the former British colony in 1997, sent white clouds of gas wafting among some of the world's most valuable office towers and shopping malls before riot police suddenly withdrew around lunchtime on Monday, after three nights of confrontation.

China rules Hong Kong under a "one country, two systems" formula that accords the territory limited democracy. Tens of thousands of mostly student protesters are demanding Beijing give them full democracy, with the freedom to nominate election candidates, but China recently announced that it would not go that far.

As riot police withdrew on Monday, weary protesters slept beside roads or sheltered from the sun beneath umbrellas, which have become a symbol of what some are calling the "Umbrella Revolution". In addition to protection from the elements, umbrellas have been used as flimsy shields against pepper spray.

Nicola Cheung, an 18-year-old student from Baptist University, said the protesters in central Admiralty district were assessing the situation and planning what to do next.

"Yes, it's going to get violent again because the Hong Kong government isn't going to stand for us occupying this area," she said. "We are fighting for our core values of democracy and freedom, and that is not something violence can scare us away from."

Organisers have said that as many as 80,000 people have thronged the streets after the protests flared on Friday night. No independent estimate of numbers was available.

The protests, with no single identifiable leader, bring together a mass movement of mostly tech-savvy students who have grown up with freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China. The movement represents one of the biggest threats for Beijing's Communist Party leadership since its bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy student protests in and around Tiananmen Square.

Cracking down too hard could shake confidence in market-driven Hong Kong, while not reacting firmly enough could embolden dissidents on the mainland.

The protests are expected to escalate on Oct. 1, China's National Day holiday, with residents of the nearby former Portuguese enclave of Macau planning a rally. Pro-democracy supporters from other countries are also expected to protest, causing Beijing further embarrassment.

Such dissent would never be tolerated on the mainland, where the phrase "Occupy Central" was blocked on Sunday on Weibo, China's version of Twitter. The protests have received little coverage on the mainland, save for government condemnation.

Televised scenes of the chaos in Hong Kong over the weekend have already made a deep impression on many viewers outside Hong Kong. That was especially the case in Taiwan, which has full democracy but is considered by China as a renegade province that must one day be reunited with the Communist-run mainland.

"Taiwan people are watching this closely," Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said in an interview with Al Jazeera.

Britain said it was concerned about the situation in Hong Kong and called for the right of protest to be protected.

The U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong issued a statement calling for all sides to "refrain from actions that would further escalate tensions".

China's Hua said Beijing noted statements expressed by countries such as the United States. "We hope that the relevant country will be cautious on this issue and not send the wrong signal," she said.

"We are resolutely opposed to any foreign country using any method to interfere in China's internal affairs. We are also resolutely opposed to any country, attempting in any way to support such illegal activities like 'Occupy Central'."

"We are fully confident in the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, because I believe this is in keeping with the interests of all the people in China, the region and the world," she said.

In 1989, Beijing's Tiananmen crackdown sent shockwaves through Hong Kong as people saw how far China's rulers would go to keep their grip on power.

SOME BANKS PULL DOWN SHUTTERS

Banks in Hong Kong, including HSBC (HSBA.L), Citigroup (C.N), Bank of China (601988.SS), Standard Chartered (STAN.L) and DBS (DBSM.SI), shut some branches and advised staff to work from home or go to secondary branches.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the city's de facto central bank, said the city's interbank markets and Currency Board mechanism, which maintains the exchange rate, were not affected by the unrest. It said it stood ready to "inject liquidity into the banking system as and when necessary".

Hong Kong witnessed extraordinary scenes at the weekend as thousands of protesters, some armed with nothing more than umbrellas, blocked the main road into the city and police responded with pepper spray, tear gas and baton charges.

Markets more or less took the weekend's unrest in their stride, proof yet again of the pre-eminent place trade has always taken in Hong Kong. Hong Kong shares .HSI ended down 1.9 percent.

The protests have spooked tourists, with arrivals from China down sharply ahead of this week's National Day holidays. Hong Kong on Monday cancelled the city's fireworks display over the harbour, meant to mark the holiday. The United States, Australia and Singapore issued travel alerts.

SCUFFLES BREAK OUT

Some protesters erected barricades to block security forces early on Monday, although a relative calm descended after dawn. By mid-afternoon, hundreds of protesters were seen streaming again into downtown areas of Hong Kong island. A bus draped with a banner reading "Democracy" was parked across a main road.

People placed discarded umbrellas over students sleeping in the sun, while others distributed water and masks to guard against tear gas and pepper spray.

Hours earlier, police had baton-charged a crowd blocking a road into the main government district in defiance of official warnings that the demonstrations were illegal.

Protesters called on Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying to step down. Several scuffles broke out between police in helmets, gas masks and riot gear, and demonstrators.

"If today I don't stand up, I will hate myself in future," said taxi driver Edward Yeung, 55, as he swore at police. "Even if I get a criminal record it will be a glorious one."

Across Hong Kong's famed Victoria Harbour, smaller numbers of protesters, including some secondary school students, also gathered in the Mong Kok district of Kowloon.

About 200 workers at Swire Beverage, a unit of Hong Kong conglomerate Swire Pacific (0019.HK) and a major bottler for the Coca-Cola Company (KO.N), went on strike in support of the protesters, a union representative said. They also demanded the city's leader step down.

The "one country, two systems" formula guarantees Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China, with universal suffrage set as an eventual goal.

However, Beijing last month rejected demands for people to freely choose the city's next leader, prompting threats from activists to shut down the Central business district.

China wants to limit 2017 elections to a handful of candidates loyal to Beijing. Communist Party leaders worry that calls for democracy could spread to the mainland.