The Occupy Central protest continued on Monday, with growing crowds, mainly composed of young students, blocking multiple streets.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange saw shares fell about 2 percent, and the Hong Kong dollar also fell to a new low against the US dollar. Investors' confidence was hit hard.

The local government announced Monday it would withdraw the riot police. However, the protesters insisted on their demands, asking the National People's Congress to take back planned arrangements for electing Hong Kong's leader in 2017, or for the special administrative region's chief executive C.Y. Leung to resign.

It appears that the oppositionists have achieved their first stage of success in mobilizing supporters to break through the authority of Hong Kong's law. However, this is not the decisive element of Hong Kong's situation. The general environment of the region's political reform stays intact. The oppositionists will face a dead end.

Without changing the earlier decision, the central and Hong Kong governments can exercise a certain degree of restraint in handling the shutdown of the city's financial areas, so as to leave some time for local people to realize the harm done by the protesters' illegal acts.

Hong Kong has been peaceful for a long time without major turmoil. This is the reason why the extremists dared to manipulate politics with illegal means. The young people do not know the consequence of crossing the lines of the law, and it is difficult to persuade the emotional students not to do so.

Now the opposition forces have been complaining about the government's moves in handling the protests, accusing it of using "excessive force." No one seemed to have paid attention to what the protesters did in the clashes.

If the oppositionists continue their Occupy campaign, they will bring more inconvenience to local people, the investment environment will be harmed, and the stock market and foreign exchange market will slip. These will all hurt the local people's interests, leaving holes on the promises raised by the oppositionists.

The central government will not step back just because of the chaos created by the oppositionists. The Occupy Central campaign appears to be boisterous, but it will not spread out of Hong Kong. The majority of mainlanders back the central government's Hong Kong policies. So it is unlikely the chaos in Hong Kong could turn into a crisis in the mainland.

After Hong Kong people see it clearly that the central government will not change its mind, they will recognize the dramas staged by the oppositionists are just making things worse. The tide will turn against the oppositionists.