Thousands of people filled the streets on Wednesday to ratchet up pressure on Hong Kong's pro-Beijing government to open up elections to non-approved candidates.

Protesters who endured a night of rain and thunderstorms began to stream into the city's waterfront Golden Bauhinia Square around dawn, ahead of celebrations to mark China's National Day.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who took part in a flag raising event to mark the National Day, refused to meet with those taking part in the protests. The flag raising - to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the founding of Communist China - followed the expiry of a midnight deadline set for Leung by protest leaders.

During the ceremony, Leung shook hands with supporters waving the Chinese flag, while nearby protesters chanted "we want real democracy" and turned their backs on the event. Scores of young people on the waterfront were reported to have booed as the national anthem was played.

The pro-democracy campaigners, many of them students, are calling for a reversal of a recent decision by the Chinese government to only allow Beijing-approved candidates to stand in a 2017 election for the territory's first direct elections. Leung rejected the students' demands, saying that the authorities would not budge as far as the vote was concerned.

Police take a step back

While police used tear gas and pepper spray in encounters with demonstrators at the weekend, there appeared to be a more subdued approach going into Wednesday.

University students involved in the demonstrations had earlier made an online appeal for the flag-raising to be allowed to go ahead without interference.

Organizers of the protests are hoping that the public holiday will allow massive crowds to gather in the city to express their displeasure at the vetting law, which was approved by China's National People's Congress.

The Hong Kong government has already cancelled holiday fireworks that had been set to take place on Wednesday.

The former British colony has enjoyed special rights since it was reabsorbed by China in 1997, under a "one country, two systems" principle. According to that formula, universal suffrage is set as the eventual goal.

rc/lw (AFP, AP, Reuters)