Authorities in Hong Kong have offered to hold talks with pro-democracy protesters who are continuing to occupy central areas of the southern Chinese city, pressing for political reforms. Minutes before a midnight deadline set by the protesters for Hong Kong’s chief executive Leung Chun-ying to resign passed, Leung said he would send his chief secretary to meet the demonstrators. He said he had no intention of stepping down. The students had earlier on Thursday threatened to escalate their protests – including occupation of government buildings – unless Leung stepped down.

He warned the protesters of serious consequences if they chose to storm government buildings. She said that Leung’s statement was played on loudspeakers to the protesters outside and was received with a lot of booing. She noted that the crowd had become noisier since the speech. but there had been no attempts made so far to cross the barrier.

With the protests showing no signs of waning, Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, issued the warning to the US and other foreign countries not to interfere.

Reuters news agency, citing an official source, reported that Leung was willing to let the demonstrations go on for weeks if necessary. Speaking in Washington, Wang said China would not tolerate “illegal acts that violate public order”.

The People’s Daily newspaper, the government’s official newspaper, said in a commentary on Thursday that Beijing “fully trusts” Hong Kong’s Leung, and that it is “very satisfied with his work”.