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Hong Kong protests: Pro-democracy protesters accept talks with chief executive Leung Hong Kong protests: Pro-democracy leaders threaten to call off talks after violent scuffles
(about 5 hours later)
Crowds of pro-democracy protesters rallying in Hong Kong dwindled on Friday after accepting talks with the territory’s leader over their demands for electoral reform. Leaders of Hong Kong pro-democracy protests are threatening to cancel talks after violent scuffles broke out away from the Central pro-democracy protest site on Friday.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying agreed to the talks but rejected demands from protestors that he resign, who had threatened to surround or occupy government buildings. On Friday, numbers dwindled at some protest sites in and around the Central financial district after protesters accepted talks with the territory’s leader over their demands for electoral reform.
An afternoon thunderstorm - and sheer exhaustion after the week-long protests - also appeared to keep people off the streets, according to the Associated Press.  However, about 1,000 Beijing supporters clashed with about 100 protesters in the commercial district of Mong Kok and police were forced to form a human chain and separate the two.
The territory's top civil servant, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, who was asked to arrange the talks, said she would seek to meet the leaders of the demonstrations as soon as possible. Opponents of the demonstrators began dismantling tents and ripping down banners, with many angry at the disruption protests are causing.
"I hope both sides will be satisfied," she said. "Students had wanted a public meeting but I hope that we can have some flexibility to discuss details." The unrest comes after Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying told reporters just minutes before the ultimatum expired at midnight on Thursday that Chief Secretary Carrie Lam would meet students soon to discuss political reforms.
Government offices in Hong Kong were closed temporarily on Friday and employees told to work form home because of roads blocked by demonstrations. Mr Leung agreed to the talks but rejected demands from protesters that he resign, who had threatened to surround or occupy government buildings.
One of the leaders of the Occupy Central democracy group, which started a long-threatened plan to paralyse the city's central core by joining the student demonstration, also welcomed the talks. "We are all fed up and our lives are affected," teacher Victor Ma told the Associated Press. "You don't hold Hong Kong citizens hostage because it's not going to work. That's why the crowd is very angry here."
"This could be an opportunity to solve the plight we are facing," said Benny Tai. A statement by the three main protest groups said: "If the government does not immediately prevent the organised attacks on supporters of the Occupy movement, the students will call off dialogue on political reform with the government."
"The behaviour of these protesters is illegal, extremely unreasonable and inhumane, and is even worse than that of radical social activists and almost complete anarchy," the Hong Kong government said in a statement, adding that people gathering in Mong Kok should leave.
Six-day demonstrations have been pushing for the Chinese government to reverse its recent decision requiring a mostly pro-Beijing panel screen all candidates for Hong Kong's first election to choose the territory's leader in 2017.Six-day demonstrations have been pushing for the Chinese government to reverse its recent decision requiring a mostly pro-Beijing panel screen all candidates for Hong Kong's first election to choose the territory's leader in 2017.
A pro-democracy demonstrator sleeps on the road outside the Government Complex in Hong Kong on October 2
But a front-page editorial in Friday's edition of the People's Daily newspaper, published by China's ruling Communist Party, underlined the leadership's unwillingness to negotiate changes to its August decision.But a front-page editorial in Friday's edition of the People's Daily newspaper, published by China's ruling Communist Party, underlined the leadership's unwillingness to negotiate changes to its August decision.
A pro-democracy demonstrator sleeps on the road outside the Government Complex in Hong Kong on October 2 Scuffles broke out earlier in the morning as officers forced demonstrators back to clear a path for an ambulance leaving the sprawling government compound, the focal point of the protests.
There were also signs of tension when more than 50 police were sent to Mong Kok, just north of the Tsim Sha Tsui shopping district on the Kowloon side of the harbour, to break up pushing and shoving between protesters and pro-Beijing groups trying to pull down supply tents and protest barricades in the area.
Volunteers said several people were injured but could not confirm a total figure. Mong Kok, considered one of the most heavily populated places on earth, is hugely popular with tourists from mainland China.
Additional reporting by agenciesAdditional reporting by agencies