Hong Kong police ease tactics on ralliers

Pro-democracy protesters flood the streets around the government headquarters, Monday, Sept. 29, 2014 in Hong Kong. Pro-democracy protesters expanded their rallies throughout Hong Kong on Monday, defying calls to disperse in a major pushback against Beijing's decision to limit democratic reforms in the Asian financial hub. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
Pro-democracy protesters flood the streets around the government headquarters, Monday, Sept. 29, 2014 in Hong Kong. Pro-democracy protesters expanded their rallies throughout Hong Kong on Monday, defying calls to disperse in a major pushback against Beijing's decision to limit democratic reforms in the Asian financial hub. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's police defended their use of tear gas but softened their tactics Monday after forceful attempts to quell pro-democracy protests drew tens of thousands more people into the streets in an unprecedented show of civil disobedience.

"The students are protecting the right to vote, for Hong Kong's future. We are not scared; we are not frightened; we just fight for it," said Carol Chan, a 55-year-old civil service worker who said she took two days off to join the protests after becoming angered over police use of tear gas Sunday.

Instead of candlelight, a few hundred people staged a brief "mobile light" vigil Monday night, waving their glowing cellphones as the protests stretched into their fourth day.

Crowds chanted calls for the city's unpopular leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, to resign and sang anthems calling for freedom.

Throughout the night and into this morning, protesters kept blocking streets and singing songs in continuing their peaceful push for democratic reform in the city.

Officials announced that schools in some districts of Hong Kong would remain closed today because of safety concerns, while dozens of bus routes were canceled and some subway stops near protest areas were closed.

Local media also reported that protest organizers had vowed to step up their demonstrations if the government had not responded to their demands by Wednesday, which is a holiday for China's National Day.

Students and activists have been camped out since late Friday, demanding that Beijing grant genuine democratic reforms to the former British colony.

Signaling it doesn't expect a quick end to the demonstrations, the government said it was canceling a fireworks display planned for Wednesday's holiday. During that celebration and a following traditional holiday Thursday, larger crowds could still flood the streets.

Police said they used 87 rounds of tear gas Sunday in what they called a necessary but restrained response to protesters pushing through cordons and barricades. They said 41 people were injured, including 12 police officers.

"Police cordon lines were heavily charged by some violent protesters. So police had to use the minimum force in order to separate the distance at that moment between the protesters and also the police," said Cheung Tak-keung, the assistant police commissioner for operations.

Riot police withdrew from the protest areas late Sunday, and on Monday, exhausted-looking uniformed officers manned barricades, blocking access to some buildings but otherwise not intervening.

The atmosphere was festive as constantly shifting crowds blocked major roads. People moved in and out of the sit-ins, some bringing in food and drink while others fetched their own. Some high school students, still in their school uniforms, sat on the pavement doing their homework.

"It's already the fourth day, so it's really tiring," said Ching-ching Tse, a 24-year-old student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who was on her second day of collecting trash in the protest area with her friends. "So we are forming some groups and hope we can do some shifts and take turns."

While many Hong Kong residents support the calls for greater democracy -- dubbed the "umbrella revolution" by some, although the crowds' demands fall far short of revolution -- the unrest worries others.

"I strongly disagree with the protesters," said an older woman who gave only her surname, Chan. "Those of us who came to the city 60 or 70 years ago had nothing, and we worked and suffered so much to make Hong Kong the rich city it is today. And now the protesters have made our society unstable. For me, being able to eat and sleep is already a luxury. I don't need democracy. What does it mean?"

Many younger Hong Kong residents raised in an era of plenty and with no experience of past political turmoil in mainland China have higher expectations.

Under an agreement set in 1984, before most of them were born, Beijing promised to allow Hong Kong residents civil liberties unseen on the mainland after it took control of the city of 7.1 million in 1997.

The protesters are dismayed by China's decision last month that candidates in the city's first-ever election for its top leader must be handpicked by a pro-Beijing committee.

That move is viewed by many residents as reneging on promises to allow greater democracy in the semi-autonomous territory, since Beijing had promised that the chief executive would eventually be chosen through "universal suffrage."

Across the border, Chinese state media have provided scant coverage of the protests beyond noting that an illegal gathering spun out of control and was being curtailed by police.

The protests began a week ago with a class boycott by university and college students demanding reforms of the local legislature and a withdrawal of Beijing's requirement that election candidates be screened.

Leaders of the broader Occupy Central civil-disobedience movement joined the protesters early Sunday, saying they wanted to kick-start a long-threatened mass sit-in demanding Hong Kong's top leader be elected without Beijing's interference.

Information for this article was contributed by Elaine Kurtenbach, Kelvin Chan and Joanna Chiu of The Associated Press.

A Section on 09/30/2014

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