As Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests entered a third week, the territory's embattled leader Leung Chun-ying said he would not resign, while Chinese state media accused the US of trying to start a "colour revolution".
Hundreds of tents lined Hong Kong’s central business district at the weekend, with protesters sleeping overnight, and speeches by activists calling for more democracy for the former colony, which reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.
Talks between student leaders and city officials collapsed last week, prompting the protesters to say they would blockade downtown Hong Kong for the long term.
Speaking in an interview with Hong Kong's TVB, Mr Leung said Occupy Central was a "mass movement that has spun out of control" and that he believed the protests "cannot go on for a long time".
“The latest developments proved that a mass movement is something easy to start, but difficult to stop. And no one can direct the direction and pace of this movement. It is now a movement that has lost control,” he said.
There was "almost zero chance" of abandoning a decision by the standing committee of China's National People's Congress to allow only candidates vetted by Beijing to stand in elections in Hong Kong in 2017, he said.
The protests present Beijing with one of its biggest political challenges since it violently crushed pro-democracy protests in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.
A front-page editorial in the Communist Party organ the People's Daily said US government officials, non-government groups, and media were working to foment a "colour revolution" in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
“It is hardly likely that the US will admit to manipulating the ‘Occupy Central’ movement, just as it will not admit to manipulating other anti-China forces. It sees such activities as justified by ‘democracy’, ‘freedom’, ‘human rights’ and other values,” the editorial said. The commentary went on to slam US media for praising the protests, saying that in no way were the Hong Kong demonstrations “umbrella revolutions”.
“In reality the US is simply defending its own strategic interests and undermining governments it considers to be ‘insubordinate’. In US logic, a ‘democratic’ country is one that conducts its affairs in line with American interests,” it said, adding that the US stood little chance of overcoming the determination of the Chinese government “to maintain stability and prosperity”.
