Hong Kong’s embattled chief executive Leung Chun-ying on Sunday blamed “external forces” for the unprecedented pro-democracy protests which continue to paralyze large swathes of the city in their 22nd consecutive day.

In an interview with the station Asia TV, which has a pro-mainland reputation, he called the protests “out of control even for the people who started it.”

“There is obviously participation by people, organizations from outside of Hong Kong, in politics in Hong Kong, over a long time,” he said. “This is not the only time when they do it, and this is not an exception either.” He declined to elaborate.

Mainland authorities have repeatedly condemned the protests using similar language – numerous state media editorials have blamed them on “foreign forces” attempting to subvert China by fomenting a “color revolution.” Central authorities “fully support” Leung, the editorials said.

On Sunday, hundreds of people milled around a protest site in the gentrifying, densely-populated district Mong Kok, manning aid stations and sitting in small circles on the pavement. Many said they came to express solidarity with demonstrators after the area was rocked by two consecutive nights of violent clashes between protesters and riot police, leading to scores of injuries and arrests.

“Hong Kong is my home, and I want to protect it – I don’t trust the police anymore,” said Jason Lam, a 20-year-old student who planned on camping out at Mong Kok overnight before returning to school in the morning. A police officer hit him in the back with a baton on Friday, he said. “I was so afraid. I don’t know how they can do this and think it’s right.”

Protesters demand the right to elect the next chief executive by “true universal suffrage” in 2017. In August, China’s central government decreed an elective framework which, while allowing the city’s general population to vote, would only allow pro-Beijing candidates on the ballot.

Beijing has ruled the former British colony under a “one country, two systems” arrangement since a peaceful handover in 1997, and many demonstrators see the framework as evidence that the arrangement has failed.

Peter Choi, a 76 year-old retired businessman and Mong Kok local, said: “As old people, we don’t have the power to be at the front lines, but we support the students from back here.”

He added: “The people here have accumulated so much anger in the 17 years since the handover … the general population hasn’t enjoyed any of [its] economic benefits. The pie keeps getting bigger, but the money keeps going to cronies. I’m stable – I can eat. But the next generation has no future.”

Police spokesman Hui Chun-tak blamed the recent clashes on “radical protesters” charging police cordons. “Activists from radical organisations as well as trouble-makers are mingling with other protesters” in Mong Kok, he said.

“From time to time they plan, organise and direct various actions to provoke our officers and create chaos.”

On Saturday, the city’s second-in-command, Carrie Lam, said that government representatives would formally meet with student leaders for the first time on Tuesday. Leaders of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the protest’s organisers, have accepted the overture.

Originally published by The Guardian