Will they stay or will they go?<br /><br /> A clearance order could mark the beginning of the end of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests that have choked the financial city for over two months. <br /><br /> Posted at the main occupation site in the Admiralty district, it follows an injunction obtained by a local bus company.<br /><br /> Demonstrators are being warned to pack up and get out by 9am on Thursday morning.<br /><br /> On Tuesday, as the notice was displayed by bailiffs at the site – home to government offices and next to the main Central business district – there was an air of resignation.<br /><br /> “Maybe the movement has dragged on too long,” said social worker Esther Yau.<br /><br /> “As a normal citizen, I am thinking: ‘What more can we do? Should we stay here forever?’ If we want to move forward, we need to stop for a while and change strategy.”<br /><br /> “If you ask what concrete results we have achieved, I would say ‘zero’. We can see that both the Hong Kong government and the Chinese central government have made no concessions,” said transport worker Carlos Cheung. <br /><br /> “The students have lowered their demands since the start of the movement. The students who have been on hunger strike are only asking for a meeting but even that demand is rejected.”<br /><br /> At their peak, the rallies drew more than 100,000 people, but their number has dwindled and now there are only dozens left.<br /><br /> Protesters have been calling for free elections for Hong Kong’s next leader in 2017 rather than the vote between pre-screened candidates that Beijing has said it will allow.
