Hong Kong's Beijing-approved chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, will speak with protesters that have occupied the city's major thoroughfares for the past week. The group, a coalition of university students and other pro-democracy advocates, have decried Beijing's decision to vet candidates in elections and have demanded for Leung to resign. While protests and demonstrations began with great fervor last weekend, numbers are beginning to wane in some districts.

The Chinese government, through an editorial in state-run People's Daily, has said the talks between Leung and protesters are "doomed to fail" and that "there is no room for compromise on major questions of principle."

Attacks on protesters and their encampments have been reported in shopping areas with typically heavy foot traffic: Causeway Bay area on Hong Kong Island and in the Mong Kok neighborhood, with the New York Times reporting "bitter skirmishing" between protesters and men trying to tear down their tents.

In response to the attacks and ahead of their talks with government authorities, protest officials told the Times, "If the government does not immediately prevent the organized attacks on supporters of the Occupy movement, the students will call off dialogue on political reform with the government."

And even though he has agreed to speak with protesters, Leung, with the full support of Beijing behind him, has largely been dismissive of their demands, refusing to step down from his post. "No civilized society can allow these things to keep endlessly happening," he said in a statement.

[Image via AP]