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HONG KONG returned very much to normal yesterday as schools reopened and civil servants returned to work.
The student-led protests for political change shrank to a few hundred demonstrators still camped out in the streets, vowing to keep up the pressure until the government responds to their demands.
Most protesters cleared the area outside the city government headquarters and crowds also thinned out markedly at the two other protest sites as traffic flowed again through many previously blocked roads.
Early talks between the government and the students have started, but many disagreements remain.
Students say that they will walk away from the talks if the government uses force to clear away remaining protesters.
Spokesman Alex Chow said: “This is definitely not the end. We’ve never set a timeframe for how long this should go on. It’s normal for people to go home, to come and go.
“It’s up to the government now. This is the first step, but the pressure has to continue.”
The local administration appears to have learned from its overreaction a week ago when tear gas and pepper sprays were used, sparking popular support for the protesters.
There was no state reaction to the couple of hundred remaining at the main protest site of Admiralty and in the Mong Kok area, where scuffles broke out over the weekend between protesters and residents.
About 25 protesters refused to budge from their position outside the government headquarters, where some said that they would stay as long as they can.
