Hong Kong Crisis Deepens After Weekend Clashes, Talks Set for Tuesday

Hong Kong Crisis Deepens After Weekend Clashes, Talks Set for Tuesday

(Reuters) – A deepening sense of impasse gripped Hong Kong as pro-democracy protests entered their fourth week, with the government having limited options to end the crisis and demonstrators increasingly willing to confront police.

Dozens of people were reportedly injured in two nights of clashes that began late on Friday in the densely populated Mong Kok district of the Chinese-controlled city, including 22 police. Four people were arrested early on Sunday, police said.

The area was calm early on Monday, although scores of protesters remained on the streets.

Hopes of easing the worst political crisis in Hong Kong since Britain handed the free-wheeling city back to China in 1997 rest on talks scheduled for Tuesday between the government and student protest leaders that will be broadcast live.

But few are expecting any resolution given the two sides are poles apart on how the city will elect its next leader in 2017.

“Unless there is some kind of breakthrough in … talks on Tuesday, I’m worried we will see the standoff worsen and get violent,” said Sonny Lo, a professor at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.

“We could be entering a new and much more problematic stage. I hope the government has worked out some compromises, because things could get very difficult now.”

Read the full story at Reuters.

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