A Clear Indication Of How Serious Hong Kong Protesters Are

Protests in Hong Kong are in their fifth day, and the crowds are larger than ever after a the China National Day ceremony to mark the 65th anniversary of Communist China.

The student-led protest is attempting to use peaceful civil disobedience to force Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying resign and persuade Beijing to retract its decision to screen candidates in the the city's 2017 chief executive poll.

Tensions are escalating as student leaders vow to occupy several important government buildings if Leung doesn't resign by Thursday.

"I hope people will understand why the action keeps on escalating. It's because the government is getting more and more closed without listening to Hong Kong people," one of the leaders of the Occupy Central movement told The Associated Press. "If the government can give us a proper response in due course I think we can end the occupation immediately."

The potential problem with this strategy is that it could elad to a brutal crackdown by Chinese authorities.

"If students were to occupy government buildings that would be a very dangerous situation because it would give police a reason to use force," George Chen, a 2014 Yale World Fellow and author of the book, 'This is Hong Kong I Know,' told Business Insider on Tuesday.

Chinese authorities have so far resisted the broad use of force, instead employing a strategy of watiing protesters out. But patience is running out.

"The Hong Kong leadership has made clear that they're not going to accede to the protesters demands," Geopolitical expert Ian Bremmer told Business Insider in an email. "They want to avoid a broad show of force ... but if they can't get the demonstrations to disperse through threats and some strategic arrests, we're likely to see violence."

More to come ...