As protests at the government center of Hong Kong entered into their tenth day Sunday morning, some demonstrators began to break down barriers and blockades to roads and sidewalks in advance of a government-dictated Monday deadline. Others, as the AP reports, refused to budge.

The pro-democracy sit-ins that have been ongoing near Hong Kong's government center for almost two weeks are intended as a means to "peacefully protest China's restrictions on the first-ever direct election for Hong Kong's leader, promised by Beijing for 2017," the AP reports.

After the government said that they'd do whatever was necessary to ensure "3,000 civil servants would have full access to their offices on Monday," members of several student groups began reluctantly retreating, though some remained resolute.

Via the New York Times:

Alex Chow, secretary general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the groups at the forefront of the pro-democracy demonstrations, said the "occupy" sit-ins would continue while the federation opened talks with the government. He warned that the talks would be suspended if the government made any attempt to forcefully drive away the protesters.

"A dialogue is not a compromise," Mr. Chow said from a stage at the main protest camp. "We will start arranging talks with the government, because we understand that there are people in both the government and here who want to solve society's problems."

"We will not back down," he added.

As the AP notes, police have arrested 30 people since the start of the protest and last night, similar to last week, law enforcement used pepper spray to subdue the crowds after "verbal abuse." Hong Kong's leader, Beijing-approved chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, agreed on Friday to speak with activists.

[Images via AP]