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| As Hong Kong Protest Ebbs, Organizers Claim Small Gains | As Hong Kong Protest Ebbs, Organizers Claim Small Gains |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| HONG KONG — As the protests dwindled and life in Hong Kong increasingly returned to its frenetic routine on Monday, organizers of the biggest pro-democracy political movement in China since the 1989 demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in Beijing said they had moved the needle, however slightly, toward the possibility of a more democratic future for the city’s 7.2 million people. | |
| Before the movement splashed into headlines around the world more than a week ago, the prospect of meaningful talks between democracy advocates and a government bent on doing Beijing’s will was nonexistent, democrats said. | Before the movement splashed into headlines around the world more than a week ago, the prospect of meaningful talks between democracy advocates and a government bent on doing Beijing’s will was nonexistent, democrats said. |
| Now preliminary talks have begun, and the student-led movement has strengthened the hand of Hong Kong’s democratic lawmakers. | Now preliminary talks have begun, and the student-led movement has strengthened the hand of Hong Kong’s democratic lawmakers. |
| “The power shown by the people in this civil protest is the power of the powerless,” Albert Ho, the former head of the Democratic Party and a candidate for chief executive in 2012, said in a telephone interview. “We have been able at least to create sufficient pressure on the government for the commencement of a dialogue. They know that the theme of discussion is political reform. Previously everybody treated this as a closed chapter.” | “The power shown by the people in this civil protest is the power of the powerless,” Albert Ho, the former head of the Democratic Party and a candidate for chief executive in 2012, said in a telephone interview. “We have been able at least to create sufficient pressure on the government for the commencement of a dialogue. They know that the theme of discussion is political reform. Previously everybody treated this as a closed chapter.” |
| Although the protest leaders and the remaining participants, who still numbered in the hundreds, insisted that the so-called Umbrella Revolution was a long-term project that was far from over, there was a sense on Monday of a winding down and, after 11 days of overnight street protests, a dissipation of energy. | Although the protest leaders and the remaining participants, who still numbered in the hundreds, insisted that the so-called Umbrella Revolution was a long-term project that was far from over, there was a sense on Monday of a winding down and, after 11 days of overnight street protests, a dissipation of energy. |
| “I’m very, very, very tired,” said Dennis Chan, 28, letting out a melodramatic sigh as he prepared to go home to sleep after 10 days at the sit-in near the government center. “We all are.” | “I’m very, very, very tired,” said Dennis Chan, 28, letting out a melodramatic sigh as he prepared to go home to sleep after 10 days at the sit-in near the government center. “We all are.” |
| “It won’t end today, but maybe tomorrow, maybe later, too, when there are fewer and fewer people,” he added. “It’s hard to say that we’ve won this battle. But it’s been positive in making pressure on the government to open a conversation with the students.” | “It won’t end today, but maybe tomorrow, maybe later, too, when there are fewer and fewer people,” he added. “It’s hard to say that we’ve won this battle. But it’s been positive in making pressure on the government to open a conversation with the students.” |
| Even the protest leaders, as they began to reflect on what the movement achieved and where it failed, were already adopting the past tense. | Even the protest leaders, as they began to reflect on what the movement achieved and where it failed, were already adopting the past tense. |
| “All gates were closed before,” Yvonne Leung, a spokeswoman for the Hong Kong Federation of Students, said in a phone interview. “We have now won some space for dialogue, and we’ve seen a growth in our civil society. The people used to be unaware of their own power, but now they know.” | “All gates were closed before,” Yvonne Leung, a spokeswoman for the Hong Kong Federation of Students, said in a phone interview. “We have now won some space for dialogue, and we’ve seen a growth in our civil society. The people used to be unaware of their own power, but now they know.” |
| On Monday, the student groups that are the driving force behind the protests honored a commitment they made to the government the night before to clear the barricades enough to allow civil servants to return to work. By early Monday morning, all the entrances to the main government office complex were open, and workers were streaming in. | On Monday, the student groups that are the driving force behind the protests honored a commitment they made to the government the night before to clear the barricades enough to allow civil servants to return to work. By early Monday morning, all the entrances to the main government office complex were open, and workers were streaming in. |
| Protesters remained at the camps and some roads remained blocked at the two main protest sites — at the city government offices in the Admiralty area downtown and in the Mong Kok neighborhood across the harbor in Kowloon — but just steps away, it was business as usual in this bustling financial hub. | |
| Even People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, scaled back its criticism of the movement on Monday. While past days had featured front-page articles lambasting the movement as causing chaos, dismissing any chance of compromise and warning of dire consequences if it continued, the Monday edition confined coverage of the events in Hong Kong to the fourth page, with one article criticizing the movement as undemocratic because it represented only a minority of Hong Kong’s citizens. | |
| Despite the lowered tensions, the two sides remained miles apart, and the existence of talks hardly assured their success. The official talks between student leaders and the Hong Kong government, led by the second-highest-ranking official in the territory, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, have not yet begun, but on Monday their representatives began discussions on how they might proceed. | |
| The protesters are pushing the central government to revisit a decision made by China’s Parliament, the National People’s Congress, in late August that effectively limited candidates for Hong Kong’s highest office, the chief executive, to those approved by a pro-Beijing panel. | The protesters are pushing the central government to revisit a decision made by China’s Parliament, the National People’s Congress, in late August that effectively limited candidates for Hong Kong’s highest office, the chief executive, to those approved by a pro-Beijing panel. |
| Mr. Ho, who along with founders of the protest movement, called Occupy Central With Love and Peace, are advising the student leaders in the talks, said Beijing and Hong Kong needed to “go back to the drawing board” and include the views of the democratic protest movement in a report to the National People’s Congress. “Everything is in the hands of Beijing,” he said. | Mr. Ho, who along with founders of the protest movement, called Occupy Central With Love and Peace, are advising the student leaders in the talks, said Beijing and Hong Kong needed to “go back to the drawing board” and include the views of the democratic protest movement in a report to the National People’s Congress. “Everything is in the hands of Beijing,” he said. |
| But the government has all but ruled out such a reset. | But the government has all but ruled out such a reset. |
| Two Hong Kong government officials said that the current process for drafting a new elections law already calls for a new round of public consultations but is limited to how a nominating committee will be structured. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said it was highly unlikely that the Hong Kong government would agree to revisit the decision of the National People’s Congress, which it considers the final word on the matter. | Two Hong Kong government officials said that the current process for drafting a new elections law already calls for a new round of public consultations but is limited to how a nominating committee will be structured. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said it was highly unlikely that the Hong Kong government would agree to revisit the decision of the National People’s Congress, which it considers the final word on the matter. |
| That demand by the students and democratic lawmakers was unrealistic, they said. “Sooner or later, it’s going to sink in with them that what they’re asking for, they’re just not going to get,” one of the officials said. | That demand by the students and democratic lawmakers was unrealistic, they said. “Sooner or later, it’s going to sink in with them that what they’re asking for, they’re just not going to get,” one of the officials said. |
| Moreover, the talks provide a useful delay for the government, helping to sap the energy of the protests without promising a meaningful compromise. | Moreover, the talks provide a useful delay for the government, helping to sap the energy of the protests without promising a meaningful compromise. |
| Michael Tien, a pro-Beijing member of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, said that was a conscious element of the government’s strategy. | Michael Tien, a pro-Beijing member of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, said that was a conscious element of the government’s strategy. |
| “Time is on the government’s side,” he said in a telephone interview. The talks “keep the Occupy movement under certain constraints so that it really doesn’t affect the day-to-day business in Hong Kong.” | “Time is on the government’s side,” he said in a telephone interview. The talks “keep the Occupy movement under certain constraints so that it really doesn’t affect the day-to-day business in Hong Kong.” |
| In a brief televised speech on Monday evening, however, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said the government was “sincere” in its desire to hold talks with the students. He also appealed for the protesters still in Mong Kok to leave, and said that for people’s personal safety and “to prevent violent crimes,” the police would “take action at an appropriate time.” | |
| The protesters’ demands include an open election for chief executive with no vetting committee on nominations, Mr. Leung’s resignation and a chance to revisit the entire process that led to the National People’s Congress decision. | |
| Mr. Tien said the students should focus on realistic goals, such as working to adjust the composition of the nominating committee. | |
| Yet in a sign of the gulf that lies between even the more realistic positions of the two camps, Mr. Ho said that Mr. Tien’s suggestion was off the table. “We are totally uninterested in it,” Mr. Ho said. | |
| For the die-hard protesters, however, political realism is not necessarily the goal. | |
| “Belief is the only reason to be here, even if it’s not realistic belief,” said Paul Cheung, 50, a sales manager who was sitting on a concrete divider in the middle of Nathan Road, which on normal days is a major thoroughfare in Mong Kok. “You must speak out for what you believe in, and then the changes will always take time.” |