Protests in Hong Kong after government calls off talks

A round of talks was scheduled to be held on Friday to reach an agreement

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Hong Kong demanding democratic reforms after the local government called off a planned meeting with student leaders.

The three largest organisations leading the protests called on demonstrators to re-group after the government decided to call off a round of talks that was scheduled to be held Friday to reach an agreement on ending the two-week old protests.

"Protesters are here to hold more pressure and force the government to listen to their demands," office worker Miriam Fong told Spanish news agency EFE Friday.

"They do not expect that our demands will be met immediately, but they hope that the government would open a dialogue and understand that democracy is the people's right," she added.

"The government provokes us when it says it does not want to listen to us," said Jason Lam, a computer programmer who has created an online page to collect messages of support.

Lam said he has received more than 35,000 messages from around the world.

"We want to say to the government that we are determined to move forward with our demands," said Mag Tang, a researcher who came with her husband.

"We are realistic and we know that what we are calling for will not be reached in the short term, but we hope that the government would support our demands," she added.

Hong Kong official, Carrie Lam, announced Thursday the cancellation of talks, that she blamed on a 'plan of civil disobedience' launched by students.

"The dialogue would not be constructive," Lam said and called on students to withdraw from the streets they have occupied since September 29 to pressure the government into meeting their demands for an unrestricted field of candidates in the 2017 local elections.