海角大神

Hong Kong鈥檚 top official, Leung Chun-ying, has refused to bow to protesters鈥� demands that he resign, but a聽midnight聽deadline they had set for his departure passed without incident as both sides steered away from confrontation.

In his first conciliatory gesture after several days of street sit-ins,聽Mr. Leung said late Thursday that his deputy, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, would meet student leaders 鈥渟oon鈥� to discuss the electoral reform program that has sparked their ire. China has insisted on vetting candidates for elections in 2017.

Outside Leung鈥檚 office, where several thousand protesters had gathered, some wearing googles and face masks, in response to a call to occupy government offices, student leaders urged restraint.聽鈥淒on鈥檛 fight the police tonight,鈥� said Joshua Wong, one of the student leaders.聽鈥淭he rubber bullets and the gas, it is all a trap."聽

Leung said that the police would adopt a 鈥渕aximum tolerance approach鈥� to the protesters, but warned them that occupying government offices would incur serious consequences. "I will not resign because I have to continue with the work for elections," he told a late-night press conference.聽

Demonstrators crammed between crowd control barriers outside the chief executive鈥檚 office jeered his words, broadcast聽via a transistor radio and a megaphone that one protester held up.

鈥淚t is good that they want to open a dialogue, but it doesn鈥檛 mean that our voice will be heard,鈥� says Eugene Chan, a high school student in the crowd.

But the mood on the streets stayed calm; demonstrators cheered calls for restraint from student leaders and the heads of two major Hong Kong universities.

Direct action

On Wednesday, protest leaders had threatened to overrun government offices if Leung did not step down by midnight on Thursday. But few of the thousands of young people thronging the road outside the government headquarters聽on Thursday聽afternoon appeared to have much stomach for such direct action.

鈥淚鈥檓 considering my future and my prospects,鈥� says Keith So, a student surveyor. 鈥淚f I climbed over the wall and entered (Leung鈥檚) office I would be jailed, and then the government or a big company wouldn鈥檛 consider my job application.鈥�

鈥淚 understand why they want to escalate the action, but I wouldn鈥檛 go to the front myself,鈥� adds Allen Yu. 鈥淚鈥檓 still studying and my family is putting pressure on me.鈥�

Unspoken was another major concern for many students here: a criminal record 鈥� which a protester would risk by breaking into government property 鈥� makes it a great deal harder to obtain visas for foreign travel.

With no sign that the Chinese government is prepared to withdraw its plan for the 2017 chief executive elections, some demonstrators questioned Thursday how much longer their movement could maintain its momentum.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think this whole thing will go on much beyond the weekend,鈥� says Vanessa Li, a student at Hong Kong Baptist University who has been boycotting her classes for the past week. 鈥淏ut when we go back to our universities we鈥檒l keep fighting, just in different ways.鈥�

The challenge for the protest organizers now, says Michael Davis, a law professor at Hong Kong University whom students asked for advice聽on Thursday, 鈥渋s to find new ways of running this protest鈥� beyond street sit-ins.聽鈥淭hey are going to have to be more inventive,鈥� Mr. Davis says.