Extremists shall not paralyze Hong Kong

The central government issued a stern warning on Wednesday to the radical demonstrators in Hong Kong that it will not stand by and allow the situation in the special administrative region to further deteriorate.

The message, conveyed by Zhang Xiaoming, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, at a forum in Shenzhen, was Beijing's latest and strongest response to what Zhang said was the gravest situation the SAR has faced since its return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

The campaign of disruption has continued to escalate with increasingly frequent violent disturbances and a growing number of ugly incidents.