Hong Kong (CNN) -- Thousands of pro-democracy protesters remained camped out on major highways in the heart of Hong Kong on Monday, defying government attempts to both coerce and cajole them into giving up their extraordinary demonstration.
The protests have brought widespread disruption to the heart of one of Asia's biggest financial centers, blocking traffic on multilane roads and prompting the suspension of school classes.
A police crackdown on demonstrators on Sunday -- involving tear gas, batons and pepper spray -- resulted in clashes that injured more than 40 people but failed to eject the protesters from their positions among the city's glittering skyscrapers.
The government adopted a more conciliatory approach Monday, saying it had withdrawn riot police from the protest areas. It urged people to disperse and allow traffic to return to the roads.
But the protesters, rallying against what many see as the growing influence of the Chinese Communist Party on the way Hong Kong is run, are so far refusing to budge.
"As long as there's one person that's still out here on this highway, I'm going to be here," a young woman named Nikki told CNN at the main protest site, near the government headquarters, where thousands of people were gathered on Monday.
Police action shocks residents
The protesters are responding to China's decision to allow only Beijing-vetted candidates to stand in the city's election in 2017 for chief executive, Hong Kong's top civil position. They say Beijing has gone back on its pledge to allow universal suffrage in Hong Kong, which was promised "a high degree of autonomy" when it was handed back to China by Britain in 1997.
The large-scale demonstrations now taking place grew out of student-led boycotts and protests that began last week. The demonstrations increased in size over the weekend after gaining the support of Occupy Central with Love and Peace, a protest group that was already planning to lead a campaign of civil disobedience later this week against the Chinese government's decision.
Images of heavy-handed treatment of protesters by police shocked many residents of Hong Kong, where large-scale, peaceful protests are common, but police crackdowns are not.
"They shouldn't have used tear gas," said Brian Lo, 37, who works in human resources and wasn't protesting. "This made people angry."
The strong police response appeared to stir thousands more people into joining the demonstrations, swelling the ranks of protesters around the government headquarters and starting new rallies in other key areas of the city, including the densely populated district of Kowloon, which sits on the opposite side of Victoria Harbor from Hong Kong Island.
'Umbrella revolution'
Despite the government's announcement that it had pulled riot police back from the protest sites, smaller numbers of officers remained on guard on the sidelines of the main protest area.
Aside from the clashes with police, the protesters have remained overwhelmingly peaceful. People have been picking up trash left at the protest sites, handing out bottles of water and encouraging police officers to put down their weapons and join the demonstrations.
In the face of tear gas and pepper spray, demonstrators have used goggles, homemade masks and umbrellas to protect themselves.
The abundance of umbrellas among the crowds, shielding people from both tear gas and the fierce glare of the sun, has prompted many social media users to dub the movement the "umbrella revolution."
'We had to use force'
Fears nonetheless remain about the possibility of a heavier crackdown from authorities. Both the Chinese and Hong Kong governments have said they consider the protests to be unlawful.
Hong Kong Chief Executive C.Y. Leung, whom protesters are calling on to resign, has said police have acted with the greatest possible restraint in dealing with the protesters. At least 12 police officers were among the 47 people injured, authorities said.
"We gave them enough of a chance to leave, and this included warnings," Assistant Police Commissioner Cheung Tak-keung said of protesters at a news conference Monday. "But when they failed, we had to use force."
Police fired a total of 87 tear gas canisters on Sunday night, he said.
In an indication authorities don't expect the demonstrations to end soon, the Hong Kong government said it was canceling the city's annual fireworks display on Wednesday, China's National Day, because of the protests.
What will Beijing do?
Some commentators say they see little hope of compromise between the committed protesters and the Chinese Communist Party, which remains notorious for its ruthless suppression of pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.
"I see no way the Chinese government can tolerate what is happening in HK. Greatly fear this will end badly," tweeted Mike Chinoy, a senior fellow at the U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California, who covered the Tiananmen crackdown for CNN.
Pro-democracy activist and former legislator Martin Lee told CNN's Ivan Watson that China had troops stationed in Hong Kong who could clear the streets if ordered to.
"But Hong Kong people, I think, many of them would not be scared. I certainly would not be scared. And I've said it before and I say it again, if I see a tank from the Chinese troops in Hong Kong, I would get myself a bicycle and stand right in front of it," Lee said.
Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Monday that Beijing fully believes in and firmly supports the Hong Kong government's "ability to handle the situation in accordance with the law."
Chinese authorities appeared to be taking steps to restrict the flow of information into the mainland about what was happening in Hong Kong. State media gave little coverage to the story, and it appeared censors had blocked access to Instagram after images of the protests flooded the photo-sharing app.
Hong Kong citizens enjoy a range of civil liberties, including rights to free speech and assembly, that are severely restricted in mainland China.
The U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong said Monday that the United States "strongly supports Hong Kong's well-established traditions and Basic Law protections of internationally recognized fundamental freedoms." (The Basic Law, which serves as a de facto constitution, was written in the lead-up to the 1997 handover of sovereignty from Britain to China.)
It added that it doesn't "take sides in the discussion of Hong Kong's political development, nor do we support any particular individuals or groups involved in it."
A UK Foreign Office spokesman said Britain believed Hong Kong's prosperity and security were "underpinned by its fundamental rights and freedoms, including the right to demonstrate."
"It is important for Hong Kong to preserve these rights and for Hong Kong people to exercise them within the law," the spokesman said. "These freedoms are best guaranteed by the transition to universal suffrage."
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