Hong Kong withdrew riot police from the streets on Monday morning, saying that the situation where thousands of democracy activists are protesting was calm.

Hong Kong's markets may return to calmer trading on Monday afternoon after pro democracy protests began to fade out。The Chinese government has blocked Instagram to prevent images of thousands of democracy activists protesting in Hong Kong being seen in the mainland. Censors also blocked searches for terms such as “tear gas” and “Occupy Central” – one of the democracy groups leading the protests – on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like service.

The demonstrations reached a peak in Hong Kong on Sunday, with police using tear gas and pepper spray in an attempt to disperse tens of thousands of people who had gathered in a central business district.