By Benjamin Garvey
HONG KONG
The Hong Kong government has said it will meet student leaders of the pro-democracy civil disobedience movement by the end of the week, after both sides agreed on ground rules for a series of public discussions on political reform.
The development came after a second meeting between the government representatives and student leaders late Monday.
Undersecretary for Constitutional Affairs Lau Kong-Wah said the two sides had agreed that more than one meeting would be held and that the dialogue would be in a spirit of mutual respect, the Hong Kong-government-funded Radio Television Hong Kong reported Tuesday.
Lau also said that the government would implement any consensus reached and that he was hopeful a task force led by the chief secretary, Carrie Lam, would meet the students this week, the report said.
Meanwhile, around 300 of the thousands of protesters who had brought parts of the territory to a standstill continued their occupation of major roads.
"I think the students' protest is the last resort," a local man told an Anadolu Agency correspondent Tuesday afternoon, while quietly observing protests with his wife.
"I respect the behavior of the students... Many Hong Kong people support the students but won't say it.
The man declined to give his name, but said he had donated an umbrella to the protest movement.
Over the last 11 days, tens of thousands have gathered at protest sites to push Beijing to loosen controls over the former British colony.
Police have fired tear gas and used pepper spray to clear protest sites, while a faction of Hong Kong gangsters - triads - has been accused of attacking protests and sowing disharmony on behalf of Beijing.
Police were accused of standing by and doing little to stop the attacks, in some cases arresting then quickly releasing instigators who soon renewed their assaults.
Since pepper spray was used, the movement has been dubbed the “umbrella revolution” because protesters have en-masse used umbrellas to shield themselves.
In August, Chinese leaders ruled that while Hong Kongers could choose their next chief executive in the 2017 elections, the candidates would have to be approved by Beijing first.
Hong Kong -- an international financial center -- was a British colony from 1842 to 1997. The non-violent movement is seen as the biggest challenge to Chinese rule in the territory since Beijing resumed sovereignty.
Some observers had been concerned that if the protests persist and Hong Kong police again fail to disperse the demonstrators, the Chinese military -- known as the People’s Liberation Army -- could be ordered to intervene.
That scenario has revived memories of the killing of student protesters in Tiananmen Square, in the heart of Beijing, in June 1989. The 1989 movement, initiated by students to push for a democratic China, ended when the military shot dead hundreds of people, perhaps more than 1,000.
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