1. Hong Kong's government is ready for the dialogue with students
Today in the morning Hong Kong's government announced 2 conditions upon which it is ready to negotiate with Hong Kong Students Federation representatives:
First condition – the protestors must give access to the pedestrian bridge which links the government house and the road to the office of Chief Executive, so that bureaucrats could get to work on Monday.
Second condition – demonstrators must give access to the main road to Admiralty and stop blocking the transport system of the city.
Herewith the government also hopes that schools and kindergardens will be open starting this Monday in the Central and Western districts and people will be able to get to work even if the protests continue.
Students Federation responded to that with outrage and blamed the government representatives of "misleading everyone" as "the road to the central government office has been open for the whole time of protests taking place".
2. Protestors have started the preparations for the negotiations
After police have stated that sufficient number of policemen for the prevention of possible clashes will be provided, Alex Chow (the leader of the Hong Kong Students Federation) said that they had started the preparations for the negotiations with the vice-secretary Kerry Lam.
According to the witnesses, hundreds of policemen in uniform and in civil clothing have controlled the protest in Mongkok.
Alex Chow emphasized the fact that the preparations do not mean coming to a compromise with the government but are pointed at the establishment of the dialogue with Kerry Lam. The leader noted that he and other protesters will not refuse from their demands about changes in the electoral and political systems.
However, some demonstrators are afraid of the upcoming negotiations and think that by doing this the government is trying to suppress the movement using the method of carrot and stick.
3. Tonight an unofficial meeting between government and students representatives happened
About 11 P.M. in Hong Kong a meeting was held between the leader of Hong Kong Students Federation Alex Chow and the vice-secretary in constitutional questions Liu Qian Hua and other government representatives.
The officials did not agree with the conditions which were forwarded by the students. However, they agreed to have another unofficial meeting before the official negotiations with Kerry Lam, during which they will talk about the solutions of current problems.
The participants of the negotiations decided to hold open dialogues and respect each other's positions.
Tatiana Trukhina