Both sides in Hong Kong agree again to talks
BEIJING — Hong Kong's government and student protesters agreed late Monday on terms to hold talks as people returned to work after more than a week of pro-democracy demonstrations that paralyzed the financial hub.
Lester Shum, a leader of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, confirmed the agreement over the talks but said there were no discussions or consensus on the agenda.
Hong Kong's chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, who rejected the protesters' demand for him to resign, said in a TV address Monday that the government would seek "a sincere dialogue on political reform."
He reiterated that the protesters should go home and stop blocking the streets.
"There are lots of teenagers and students with passion who love Hong Kong in various assemblies. However, some of them are aggressive and use violence. No matter what your attitude is toward Occupy Central, the police will firmly take enforcement action to those who use violence," Leung said.
The students said they would walk away from the talks if police, who fired tear gas and pepper spray on unarmed protesters Sept. 28, use force to clear away the remaining demonstrators. Friday, the students shelved an offer of talks after mobs attacked the protesters.
A few hundred demonstrators still occupied parts of the city Monday, but the number had fallen sharply.
China said in August that it would allow only two or three candidates chosen by a Beijing-friendly committee for election of the city's leader in 2017.
Protesters need rest but will return, said Alex Chow, 24, secretary general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the groups organizing the protests. "It doesn't mean the movement is diminishing. Many people still support it," he said Monday.
Leung warned over the weekend that police would "take all necessary actions" to allow government workers to return to work Monday. The remaining protesters on Sunday removed some barricades and cleared access for workers to reach their offices Monday. Many schools reopened.
Leung defused a tense situation Thursday by offering students talks with his deputy, but there was a deadlock over those negotiations.
"The ball is in the government's court on whether protests can be dissolved," Chow said. "We are all waiting and watching how the government acts, to see if this is their tactic to draw this out or whether they are willing to actually hold dialogue."
The only way out of the impasse is for the Hong Kong government to start truly representing its people's interests, not talk to the students just for the sake of it, one constitutional law expert said Monday.
"The Hong Kong government and many establishment figures have long been seen only to represent Beijing's interest and not step up for Hong Kong," Michael Davis, a University of Hong Kong professor, told RTHK, the city's public broadcaster.
The main newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party, the People's Daily, kept up its barrage of criticism, saying Monday that the Occupy movement was "driving democracy backward" and trampling on democratic principles.
Public expressions of political discontent would be impossible in mainland China, where authorities swiftly crack down on protests and have censored references to Hong Kong on social media.
Contributing: The Associated Press
