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HK protesters regroup, in for the long haul

HONG KONG — Thousands of protesters regrouped in central Hong Kong yesterday to push their call for freer elections, a day after the government called off talks with students amid a two-week stand-off that has shaken communist China’s capitalist hub.

Pro-democracy protesters attend a rally in the occupied areas outside government headquarters in Hong Kong’s Admiralty, Friday, Oct. 10, 2014. Thousands of people are pouring into a main road in Hong Kong to show support for a pro-democracy protest after the government called off talks with student leaders. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Pro-democracy protesters attend a rally in the occupied areas outside government headquarters in Hong Kong’s Admiralty, Friday, Oct. 10, 2014. Thousands of people are pouring into a main road in Hong Kong to show support for a pro-democracy protest after the government called off talks with student leaders. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

HONG KONG — Thousands of protesters regrouped in central Hong Kong yesterday to push their call for freer elections, a day after the government called off talks with students amid a two-week stand-off that has shaken communist China’s capitalist hub.

After a week that saw flagging support for the civil disobedience movement, crowds were surging again yesterday evening. Scores arrived with tents, suggesting they were in for the long haul despite a call by the police to remove obstacles that have blocked major roads in and out of the financial centre, causing traffic and commuter chaos with tail-backs stretching for miles.

The police said they would take action at an appropriate time, without specifying details. The protesters are well equipped to sit it out, with supply stations stocked with essentials such as water, biscuits and noodles. They also have makeshift showers and tents already pitched where they can sleep.

“Everyone is trying to create his own space or to defend his own position,” said Mr Travis Chu, sitting with friends in Admiralty, the government district. “Even though it seems things are in a bottleneck now, all we can do is to stay on and continue the occupation.”

Admiralty is home to government offices next to the Central business district, giving the name to the Occupy Central movement, which has combined with the student protests to try to push the government to introduce universal suffrage. In the gritty, crowded suburb of Mong Kok on the Kowloon side of the harbour — the scene of some of the most violent clashes between protesters and the police and pro-Beijing groups last week — the crowds had built to more than 1,000 people.

“We do admit we are causing inconvenience to the people, but this is to have long-term gains through short-term pain,” Mr Alex Chow, secretary-general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the main groups leading the protests, said yesterday.

The government’s decision on Thursday to call off the talks came as democratic lawmakers demanded anti-graft officers investigate a US$6.4 million (S$8.2 million) business payout to the city’s pro-Beijing leader, Mr Leung Chun-ying, while in office. Australia’s Fairfax Media this week revealed the business payout to Mr Leung by an Australian engineering company.

China rules Hong Kong through a “one country, two systems” formula, which allows freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland and specifies universal suffrage as an eventual goal. But Beijing said in August it would screen candidates who want to run for election for the city’s Chief Executive in 2017, which democracy activists said rendered the notion of universal suffrage meaningless. It has branded the protests illegal.

Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, the city’s No 2 official, said the talks were off because of the students’ strident demands for universal suffrage, which she said was not in accordance with the city’s mini-Constitution, as well as their “illegal” occupation of parts of the city.

Mr Chow said yesterday protest leaders are open to restarting negotiations and willing to consider lifting some blockades if they get access to Civic Square, a fenced-up area in front of the government offices. The talks, however, were unlikely to restart soon as senior government officials were visiting China this weekend.

Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who was on a trip to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday, said he was confident that “social stability” could be preserved in Hong Kong, stressing that Beijing would not change its approach to running the territory. Mr Li said preserving Hong Kong’s “long-term prosperity and stability” was not only in China’s interest, but also that of the city’s residents. He also said the territory’s government would protect its inhabitants from “injury or material damage”. AGENCIES

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