Crowds grew today evening as people getting off work joined weary-looking students camped on major roads near the city's government headquarters and in several other parts of the city. Uniformed police manned barricades and looked on, preventing access to some buildings, but did not otherwise intervene.
Police said they used 87 rounds of tear gas yesterday in what they said was a necessary but restrained response to protesters' efforts to push through cordons and barricades. They said 41 people were injured, including 12 police officers.
Protesters donned rain capes, surgical masks and goggles, wrapped their heads and glasses in plastic and used umbrellas to shield themselves from the searing clouds of tear gas unleashed by police yesterday. Each time they fled, but returned in defiance.
Late yesterday, riot police withdrew and Hong Kong's chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, issued a public appeal for everyone to go home and stop blocking traffic. Across Victoria Harbor, in crowded Kowloon, crowds blocked a major intersection, as young people climbed atop subway station exits and activists rallied the crowds.
"I strongly disagree with the protesters," said an older woman who gave only her surname, Chan. "Those of us who came to the city 60 or 70 years ago had nothing and we worked and suffered so much to make Hong Kong the rich city it is today. And now the protesters have made our society unstable. For me, being able to eat and sleep is already a luxury. I don't need democracy.