Hong Kong pro-democracy protest leaders said they would unblock access to government buildings to allow civil servants to go back to work next week, but defied calls from the Chinese-controlled city's leaders to end their demonstrations.
Tens of thousands of protesters have staged sit-ins across Hong Kong over the past week, demanding the city's pro-Beijing leader Leung Chun-ying step down and calling on China to reverse its decision to select the candidates for the city's 2017 leadership election.
Mr Leung has warned that the situation - which has seen the worst unrest in Hong Kong since the former British colony was handed back to Chinese rule in 1997 - could get "out of control, causing serious consequence to public safety and social order".
In a statement on local television today, he said "the most urgent thing" was to clear access to the government headquarters on Monday "so 3,000 government staff can go to work normally and serve citizens".
Addressing a mass rally late today, Benny Tai, a leader of the "Occupy Central" movement, said protesters who have blocked off key parts of the city would allow government officials to return to work.
Some were critical of the clashes that erupted late yesterday with supporters of the city's pro-Beijing government the crowded, working class neighbourhood of Mong Kok, and vowed to keep up their demands for democracy.
The protests brought much of Hong Kong to a standstill during what is traditionally a busy week-long shopping holiday.
Many residents now want the protests to end or to move elsewhere so that workers, schools and civil servants can return to normal.
Student activists, established protest groups and ordinary Hong Kongers have joined forces to present Beijing with one of its biggest political challenges since it violently crushed pro-democracy protests in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.
China's ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, in a front page editorial today, said the Hong Kong protests would never spill over into the rest of China.
"For the minority of people who want to foment a 'colour revolution' on the mainland by way of Hong Kong, this is but a daydream," the newspaper said.
Facing separatist unrest in far-flung and resource-rich Tibet and Xinjiang, Beijing is standing firm on Hong Kong, fearful that calls for democracy there could spread to the mainland.
