Hong Kong protest leaders will surrender to police

Professors Benny Tai Yiu-ting and Chan Kin-man and Pastor Chu Yiu-ming announced that they will surrender to police on Wednesday. The protest leaders' announcement comes after Hong Kong's Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying declared that the demonstrators' hunger strike is "futile."

The three founders of the Occupy Central movement said Tuesday that the pro-democracy protesters should end their demonstrations "to prevent further violence and to take the campaign for democratic reforms to a new stage," The Associated Press reports. They hope to end street protests and instead work with civic groups and community organizations to achieve democracy in Hong Kong. But AP also notes that it isn't clear whether student protesters will follow the trio's lead and their calls to "retreat."

Protests have raged for two months in Hong Kong, as activists try to pressure China to hold truly free and fair 2017 elections for Hong Kong's new leader.

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Tai, Chan, and Chu said in a statement that their surrender is a "silent denunciation of a heartless government," AP reports. "Tomorrow's battleground is expansive and now is the time to transform the people's strength into a sustainable civil society movement, to sow the spirit of democracy deep into the community," they said. "We just urge the occupiers to consider the importance to understand that the fight for democracy is a long battle."