Not looking good in HK...

Protest group rejects talks with Hong Kong government

By Ivan Watson, Tim Hume, Rebecca Wright and Wilfred Chan

The Hong Kong Federation of Students said Friday it would call off planned talks with the government after violent clashes between pro-democracy activists and opposing demonstrators. The group rejected the talks after accusing police of allowing pro-government protesters to "use violence to attack the peaceful occupiers and so severing the path of dialogue."

After jarring clashes between pro-democracy protesters and opponents in Hong Kong's densely populated Mong Kok district Friday, the city's police superintendent warned that demonstrators should clear a busy intersection or face arrest.

Police will begin dismantling protest barriers, and anyone remaining at the site could be arrested, Superintendent Mok Hing-wing said at a news conference broadcast by Hong Kong media.

Despite the warning -- and calls by protest leaders to abandon the site -- more pro-democracy protesters arrived after the clashes, and three ambulances went through the crowd to collect injured people.

"I am a little bit scared. I haven't seen anything like this before," one protester said. "We'll do our best to stay calm here, do what we can."Another protester, Wilson Wong, said the crowd encircling the protesters was intimidating.

"We just want a peaceful dialogue, but we're scared because they're using violence," he said. "We're very nervous and our hands are shaking, even as we hold on to each other."

The crowds opposing the protesters in Mong Kok appeared to be angry about the disruption posed by the demonstrations, which have choked one of the busiest intersections in Hong Kong.

Protesters are demanding the right to directly choose candidates for elected office and other reforms.

"They've been here for nearly a week. They need to clear out. It's ruining our economy, they just need to leave," said Joe Lee, one of the men angry with protesters.

Protest leader Joshua Wong said that organizers were urging protesters to leave the Mong Kok area and move to the main protest site outside the offices of Hong Kong's chief executive.

But protest organizers said they will not disperse until their demands are met.

"Hong Kong people shall continue its occupying movement until genuine universal suffrage comes to light," the Hong Kong Federation of Students said in a statement.

"Whether we will bring our actions to the next level will very much depend on the outcome of the dialogue," the group said.

The group's secretary general, Alex Chow, said Friday's unrest was organized "with the intention to cause chaos to allow police to clear activists there."

Earlier, Hong Kong's leader, Chief Executive C.Y. Leung, said there was no current plan to clear the remaining protesters, their numbers significantly reduced from the massive crowds that turned out on public holidays the previous two days.

"Currently, we do not have any plan, but as I ... said, nowhere else in the world would tolerate protesters surrounding government headquarters indefinitely," he told reporters.

Impact on planned talks

Protest coordinators said they would call off planned talks with the government if police didn't do more to prevent attacks.

The Hong Kong government's second in command, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, had agreed to meet representatives of the Hong Kong Federation of Students to talk about "constitutional development matters," in what many hoped could bring an end to the political standoff.

Benny Tai, co-founder of the Occupy Central movement, said Friday that the talks "will be an opportunity to solve the problems."

The timing and agenda for the talks have not been announced. Lam said Friday that her office has begun efforts to organize a meeting as soon as possible. The government responded with suggestions that protesters go home.

And while officials said they would give "the greatest possible tolerance" to peaceful protesters, they said those who remain gathered near the government offices would be dealt with "resolutely in accordance with the law."

Protest demands

Demonstrators are upset with a recently enacted policy giving Beijing veto power on who can run as a candidate for the chief executive role in the 2017 election.

The new system will, for the first time, let the city's 5 million eligible voters pick a winner, rather than a 1,200-member committee stacked with Beijing loyalists that has chosen past leaders. Critics argue that the right to vote is pointless if the candidates are handpicked by Beijing.

They complain that Beijing is encroaching too much on the affairs of Hong Kong, a semiautonomous Chinese territory ruled according to the "one country, two systems" policy since the 1997 handover from Britain.

Leung's failure to bend to the protesters demands has led to calls for his resignation. He has refused, warning amid protesters' threats to occupy government buildings that there will be "serious consequences" if police lines are crossed.

'We don't trust you'

At the main protest site outside the embattled chief executive's office building, several dozen police officers were on guard Friday, carrying helmets, shields and, in a few cases, batons.

As the working day began, protesters chanted, "It's 9 a.m., where is he?" referring to Leung. They mockingly called the chief executive a "turtle" for refusing to show his face.

Demonstrators blocked two vehicles from entering the government offices, which the government had declared temporarily closed. Authorities said the vehicles contained food, water and medical supplies for police.

At one point, police forced their way through demonstrators to make way for an ambulance they said contained a police officer who had collapsed.

Protesters told police to carry out the officer, yelling "we don't trust you," before police wearing helmets made their move. A police representative said the officer was in serious condition.

Police issued a statement condemning the gathering as "irresponsible," saying it had "paralyzed traffic and seriously impacted emergency services and people's daily lives."

It denounced the decision to block the police vehicles bearing supplies as "inhumane and unacceptable anywhere in the world."

Patience wearing thin?

The pro-democracy activists still occupy crucial parts of the Asian financial hub. But patience may be wearing thin as the Hong Kong government reopened Friday after two public holidays.

Some bank branches in the city were closed, as were all schools in the Central and Western districts

The government said protests have had "increasingly serious impacts on people's livelihood, Hong Kong's economy and even government operations."

A high-ranking Chinese official has denounced the protests as "illegal acts" while reiterating China's view that what happens in the special administrative region is purely a domestic matter.

"Hong Kong affairs are China's internal affairs," said Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister.

Protest leaders have urged more supporters to come out, saying that police are gathering supplies, including tear gas and pepper spray, to clear them out.

A journalist saw containers being brought into the government offices Thursday evening labeled "round, 38 mm rubber baton," or rubber bullets.

It remains unclear how long the protests can maintain support and continue to draw the numbers that have so far clogged main arteries.

If the students "drag this on for a really long time, they're going to start losing some of their support," David Zweig, a professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said as he stood at the main protest site.