Hong Kong Protests Resume After Talks Fall Through, Protesters March To CY Leung's Residence

A day after talks between pro-democracy student leaders in Hong Kong and government officials ended without a breakthrough, protests have resumed in the streets of Hong Kong, according to media reports.

Nearly 200 protesters attempted to march to Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s residence on Wednesday afternoon, incensed by his remarks where he argued that democracy would result in the city’s poor dominating politics, South China Morning Post, or SCMP, reported. Hundreds of protesters also continue to occupy the main streets in the city despite a recent injunction by the Hong Kong High Court barring protesters from blocking roads, according to media reports.

During the talks on Tuesday, which were broadcast live across several protest sites in the city, Hong Kong Chief Secretary Carrie Lam had said that the government would submit a report to Beijing reflecting the public sentiment in Hong Kong and that it would consider setting up a platform for dialogue on constitutional development.

The student leaders, however, dismissed the promises as “vague” and alleged that the government negotiators did not offer “any practical content,” according to media reports.

During the renewed protests on Wednesday, brief scuffles between cab drivers, who tried to dismantle the barricades set up by protesters in Mong Kok, and pro-democracy demonstrators, were reported. However, police intervened to calm the situation and no one was injured during the incident, SCMP reported.

Hui Chun-tak, a spokesperson for Hong Kong's police, asked the protesters, in a press conference held on Wednesday, “to remain calm and restrained, and to leave the roads soonest so as to minimize the hardship and inconvenience caused to members of the public.”

The police “have shown restraint and forbearance to the utmost degree when dealing with acts that were utterly illegal, out of their concern for the students and in the hope that they would leave by themselves peacefully,” he said, adding that the protesters have failed to uphold their “self-proclaimed” principle of non-violence.