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Hong Kong civil servants return to work as pro-democracy protests continue past deadline
ABC Radio Australia - October 6, 2014
The blockade had been in place since the territory's leader, CY Leung, refused to resign and tear gas was used against mainly student protesters more than a week ago.
Authorities had given protesters until Monday morning (local time) to leave the streets or face consequences, and while numbers were down during the day some refused to go.
By Monday evening, numbers began to build again. Many were saying they hope that offers of a dialogue between student leaders and the government would come to fruition.
There were hopes of a breakthrough Sunday when student leader Lester Shum met mid-ranking officials with the aim of setting conditions for a meeting with Mr Leung's deputy, Carrie Lam. However, no agreement was announced.
Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau told Hong Kong state broadcaster RTHK the protests could escalate if the talks were not held or failed.
Australian business group condemns demonstrations
The peak body for Australian businesses in Hong Kong, meanwhile, has joined calls by China and Hong Kong's pro-business interests and slammed the pro-democracy demonstrations.
In a press release posted on its website, the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong attacked the pro-democracy demonstrations for "damaging the city's international reputation" and "creating an uncertain environment... for investment".
The chamber called for "respect of the rule of law and order" and said that "social stability is vital to maintaining Hong Kong's hard won position as an international business centre".
An editorial in the latest edition of influential Chinese Communist Party journal Qiushi said blindly copying Western-style democracy can only bring disaster, citing enduring violence in countries like Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq and Libya which have tried to adopt such a system of government.
"The West always brags that its own democracy is a 'universal value', and denies there is any other form of democracy," said Qiushi, which means "seeking truth", in the issue distributed over the weekend.
"Western democracy has innate internal flaws and certainly is not a 'universal value', its blind copying can only lead to disaster," Qiushi added.
Hong Kong shares started the week stronger upon the scaling down of protests, with some banks that had closed branches over the past week reopening their doors for business.
"The Hong Kong market is having a rebound again because the Occupy Central activities seem to have some signs of easing," said Ben Kwong, director at KGI Asia.
However, Mr Kwong said "we don't expect the rebound will be very strong" as investors are still concerned about what comes next following the Chinese territory's worst civil unrest in decades. (ABC/Reuters)
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