MOSCOW, October 7 (RIA Novosti) – Crowds of protesters in Hong Kong started to thin out dramatically on Tuesday, with only a few dozen students still holding some stretches of occupied highway and traffic, Associated Press (AP) reported Tuesday.
"It's up to the government now. This is the first step, but the pressure has to continue," student leader Alex Chow said as quoted by AP, referring to the agreement reached last night between student leaders and government officials to hold talks in the coming days.
After an hour-long meeting late Monday, the Federation of Students' deputy leader, Lester Shum, said he had agreed with Lau Kong-wah, Hong Kong's undersecretary for constitutional and mainland affairs, that there would be multiple rounds of talks and the two sides would enter discussions on an equal footing.
The exact date for the talks has not been set yet.
On Monday, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who has rejected the protesters' calls for him to resign, said in a TV address that the government would seek dialogue on political reform.
The Occupy Central with Love and Peace protests began in Hong Kong on September 27. Demonstrators were voicing their opposition to the Chinese government's plans to control the 2017 Hong Kong election.
On October 3, the peaceful demonstrations turned violent when the opponents of the protests started assaulting the crowd. More than 50 people were injured, according to local health officials. At least 19 people have been arrested following the clashes.
Protesters say Beijing has gone back on its pledge to allow universal suffrage in Hong Kong, which was promised a high degree of autonomy when it was handed back to China by Britain in 1997.
