The Government and the Police have exercised extreme tolerance and patience in handling the protests in the past three weeks, Chief Executive CY Leung said, adding that they will continue to do so.
Mr Leung said in a television interview today that the Police have been put in a rather impossible position.
"They have an impossible job to do, maintaining law and order in the neighbourhoods that are being affected. And the last thing we want to see is a clash between the people in the neighbourhoods that hold very different views on the question of Occupy Central," he said.
Noting that the Government has the responsibility to uphold the law in Hong Kong, clearing the roads that are now occupied by protesters is a matter of time, adding that the Government and the Police will continue to exercise patience and tolerance.
He said he hopes the world will see the level of the Police force’s patience and tolerance, which is very different from that in other countries, including Western democratic ones.
He also expects the world to see that Hong Kong is a law-abiding society, and hopes that law and order will be restored as soon as possible.
