The pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong started to dwindle as the city resumed work Monday after paralyzing the financial district of the city and facing opposition from police and pro-China forces.

Overnight, the number of demonstrators plunged from thousands to just hundreds. The protesters still have not reached a deal with Leung's pro-Beijing administration and there are still no signs that talks are being arranged to settle the issue.

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Tens of thousands of protesters have demanded the resignation of Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying, effectively blocking the streets leading to main government establishments. However, bureaucrats were finally allowed to go past the barricades on Monday, Reuters reported.

The Hong Kong government is determined to get the city to return to work. On Monday, the pro-democracy protesters face the challenge of maintaining the stamina of their standoff as people began exiting the sit-in site at night only to return later.

City leaders urged the demonstrators to clear the streets to allow schools, businesses and civil service offices to resume their operations. The street leading to the Central business district is still closed to transportation, even though there are only 100 protesters remaining.

Last week, protesters held mass sit-ins in the business district in an effort to push China to allow Hong Kong to vote for their own leader in the 2017 elections. Beijing, which said the protests were illegal, gave Leung the free hand to decide on a resolution.

The mass protest finally caved in to pressure from businesses, cabbies and Leung's government, saying they would remove the barricades blocking important government establishments and let civil servants pass through on Monday. Some of the banks in the area that had closed during the peak of the sit-ins have reopened on Monday.

The Hong Kong protest is one of the toughest political problems China has encountered since the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square.

The demonstrations have disrupted businesses and caused the Hong Kong stock exchange to lose almost US$50 billion worth of shares in the last week.

TagsHong Kong, pro-democracy protests, Hong Kong Protest, universal suffrage