Hong Kong protestors suspend vote

The main groups involved in the protest, also known as the "Umbrella Revolution" said in a statement that they suspended the vote because of differing opinions. Protest leaders were planning to organize a vote by mobile phone on Sunday and Monday evening to see what people thought of the government's offer to introduce reforms in the electoral process.

According to the movement's page on news and social networking website Reddit, leading lawyer-activist of the Occupy Central Civil Disobedience Movement, Benny Tai, said: "Two days ago, we decided to have a vote, but since then … we've found there are many differing views and with regret we have suspended the referendum for now."

Activists present at the Occupy Central's press conference also tweeted statements by protest leader Alex Chow, who expressed his regret at the decision:

Demand for democracy

Protests in Hong Kong began in September this year after a proposed electoral reform by the Chinese government, which would decide who could stand as a candidate in elections to choose Hong Kong's leader in 2017. The demonstrations involved mass sit-ins and road blockades, bringing the city to a standstill.

Last Tuesday, Hong Kong's government made temporary concessions to the activists, saying they would file a report to Beijing and that they would like to set up a committee with the protestors to discuss political reform after 2017.

The protestors were to vote on the government's proposal, but following the suspension, Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement leaders were facing more and more pressure to decide on what to do next, especially since support was dwindling from residents who were worn out by the protests.

Occupy Central's activists admitted that they conducted the vote "hastily," but as Joshua Wong, founder of the student group Scholarism, which incited the demonstrations, said, the movement is not yet over.

mg/sb (AFP, AP)