Hong Kong leader warns protesters to vacate tent city

Saying he would not rule out the use of "minimum force" to clear pro-democracy protesters, Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying told a local television station on Sunday that student leaders had lost control of their movement.

"A mass movement is something easy to start, but difficult to stop," Leung said in an interview reported by Reuters. "No one can direct the direction and pace of this movement. It is now a movement that has lost control."

Hundreds of tents have popped up over the last three weeks along roads leading to Hong Kong's Central financial district. Protesters of all ages are demonstrating against what they say is overreach from China's main government in Hong Kong, nullifying the "one country/two systems" formula that Britain created for the city when it returned the region to China 17 years ago.

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Hong Kong officials canceled planned talks with student leaders last week, although Leung said the government was considering their demands.