Updated October 05, 2014 23:53:04
Hong Kong pro-democracy demonstrators have partially abandoned two protest sites in the city's centre as a government-imposed deadline to clear the streets approaches.
The government has given protesters until Monday morning (local time) to get off the streets so schools and businesses can resume as normal. If not they have been threatened with unspecified consequences.
Students have said they will stop the blockade of the main government office block.
They also announced that the site in the Mongkok shopping area will be closed. However, some activists are refusing to give up the site.
Occupy Central, one of the groups organising the protests, said demonstrators would leave Mongkok to reinforce the main demonstration area in the central Admiralty district.
Tens of thousands of protesters have staged sit-ins across Hong Kong over the past week, demanding city leader CY Leung step down and China reverse its decision to select the candidates for the city's 2017 leadership election.
Tensions have run high in recent days after Hong Kong police arrested several people with links to the city's notorious 'triad' criminal gangs after a series of attacks on pro-democracy protesters.
Man threatens to jump off bridge at protest site
Meanwhile, a man threatened to jump from an overhead pedestrian walkway in the middle of a Hong Kong protest site on Sunday.
He said he was angry his children's schools had been shut by the demonstrations.
The man, who said his surname was Yau, scaled the covered bridge in the Admiralty district and berated protesters for five hours, at one point brandishing a knife.
'Give the road back to Hong Kong's parents so kids can go back to school,' he shouted to crowds assembled below, according to an AFP reporter.
'I'm not supporting the government. I'm representing parents asking you when you will clear the road,' he added. 'I've got three children at home.'
The walkway links Hong Kong's besieged government offices and a shopping centre, and allows pedestrians to cross what is ordinarily a busy highway.
For the last week the road has become a home from home for thousands of pro-democracy protesters, who hold rallies, eat and sleep in the area, paralysing traffic and causing schools to close.
The man had said he would not move until he was live on CNN and the BBC and demanded an audience with student leaders Joshua Wong and Alex Chow, threatening to jump if his requests were not granted.
The liberal Apple Daily claimed he was a professional stuntman hired to disrupt the democracy protests.
Topics:activism-and-lobbying, government-and-politics, elections, hong-kong, asia
First posted October 05, 2014 23:46:59
Entities 0 Name: Hong Kong Count: 6 1 Name: Mongkok Count: 2 2 Name: Apple Daily Count: 1 3 Name: Leung Count: 1 4 Name: Yau Count: 1 5 Name: AFP Count: 1 6 Name: BBC Count: 1 7 Name: Joshua Wong Count: 1 8 Name: China Count: 1 9 Name: CNN Count: 1 10 Name: Alex Chow Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/ZB2TvF Title: 30 Images Of Rage And Defiance As Ugly Clashes Break Out In Hong Kong Description: Posted: Pushing, yelling, tears and rage; hundreds of Hong Kong residents furiously tried to force peaceful pro-democracy activists from the streets they were occupying Friday as tensions rose in the weeklong protests that have shut down parts of the city.
