JUDY WOODRUFF: People in Hong
Kong will vote on Sunday for
members of the District Council.

That's a body that
usually focuses on
local community issues.

But because this is the first
election since the beginning
of protests that have gripped

Hong Kong since May, Sunday's
vote could show just how much
support the demonstrators have

built.

Special correspondent
Divya Gopalan is in Hong
Kong and has the story.

DIVYA GOPALAN: Over the past
week, some of the most dramatic
clashes between police and

protesters took place
at some of Hong Kong's
leading universities.

Nearly 1,000 people barricaded
themselves in the Hong Kong
Polytechnic University campus,

bricks, Molotov cocktails,
stones catapulted and even bows
and arrows pit against tear

gas, rubber bullets, water
cannon and sponge grenades.

And while students and police
fight in the hearts of the
city's financial district, an

almost daily routine unfolds.

Mass protesters face off against
police on streets flanked
by luxury shops, banks and

international companies
just around the corner
from the stock exchange.

Despite the escalation in
violence, there's still
widespread support for
the young protesters.

For more than a week now,
every lunchtime, office workers
swarm the heart of Hong Kong's

financial center, bringing
the city to a standstill.

They chant popular
protest slogans.

And they say they want
to highlight what's
perceived as police
brutality and the excessive

force used by police.

Parts of the outrage on the
streets is due to the fact
that Beijing is seen as having

backtracked on its promises to
allow the Hong Kong people to
directly choose their leader.

Currently, a committee
representing various
sectors of industry,
the legislative council

and interest groups vote for
the chief executive, who's then
endorsed by the Communist Party.

But, this weekend, Hong Kongers
will be able to express their
discontent at the ballot

box at the District
Council elections.

Local district councillors to
usually deal with community
issues, and they don't wield

much power, but they could
impact the makeup of Hong Kong's
government, as councillors

hold nearly 10 percent of the
seats in the committee that
will eventually choose the

city's leader.

This year, it's seen as a
barometer of how much the wider
population supports the protest

movement.

For the first time ever,
each of the 400-plus
seats is hotly contested.

A record number of people
have registered to vote.

And there has been a surge in
candidates, with 20 percent
of them running for the first

time, with most of the
candidates are presenting
the interests of the
protesters or the Hong

Kong government.

HO TSZ-CHUNG, District Council
Elections Candidate (through
translator): I wish to represent

both the citizens and the
protesters in the government.

DIVYA GOPALAN: It's
been a long road for
22-year-old Ho Tsz-Chung.

He has been joining
pro-democracy protests
since he was 17 and
has taken part in this

movement since it
started in June.

But, in September, he
was arrested after a
confrontation with the police.

They have yet to charge him.

His father's kicked him out
of his home for his activism
and now feels that the street

protests haven't been
able to achieve enough.

So he's taking a different
approach by working
within the system.

HO TSZ-CHUNG (through
translator): I want to try to
broaden the battle line for the

resistance.

I believe that if there is
only resistance on the streets,
we won't be able to win this

fight.

So I believe that only by going
through the district council
can we defeat this government.

I love Hong Kong.

I don't want it to be like the
rest of China, the place with
no democracy, no freedom, no

culture, and no human rights.

DIVYA GOPALAN: For U.K. educator
Jason Chong, working within
the system means understanding

and accepting that Hong
Kong is part of China.

The 28-year-old aspiring
politician has joined
one of Hong Kong's most
established pro-Beijing

party and was inspired
to run in these elections
because of the unrest.

JASON CHONG, District Council
Elections Candidate: Some of the
youngsters, They misunderstood

what freedom and
democracy means.

If they're really tracing
for a strong democratic
city, they go and vote.

Destroying anything
opportunity help at all.

Destroying the facilities
against the government
in this violent way
is not the right path.

DIVYA GOPALAN: The district
council elections is the only
time Hong Kong people will get

to directly choose
who represents them.

It is one man, one vote, which
is why it is being given so
much importance this year.

But not everyone is
free to run for office.

One candidate is barred
from running, democracy
activist Joshua Wong.

The Hong Kong election officials
say it's because he still
believes independence could

be an option for Hong Kong's
future, which goes against
the city's constitution.

But Hong Kong's highest-profile
activist says that even this
election has been influenced

by China's communist government.

JOSHUA WONG, Pro-Democracy
Activist: With my international
advocacy, Beijing hoped to

ignore my words and to restrict
me to enter the institution.

DIVYA GOPALAN:
Twenty-three-year-old
Joshua Wong started pushing
for democratic reform

in the city as a
teenager, spearheading
the landmark pro-democracy
Umbrella Movement in

2014.

He spent time in jail on charges
related to those protests.

He is considered to be
one of Hong Kong's first
political prisoners.

He has remained at the forefront
of the latest protest movement,
calling for international

attention to the
situation in Hong Kong.

Wong and team of democracy
activists have been lobbying the
U.S. Congress to hold officials

in mainland China and
Hong Kong to account
for human rights abuses.

The bill was passed this week.

JOSHUA WONG: Hong Kong
Human Rights and Democracy
Act is the act that was
-- sanctioned individuals

who suppress on Hong Kong
people's human rights,
including government
officials, police force,

and also the election
officers that apply political
censorship and with their abuse

of power.

DIVYA GOPALAN: Thousands of
people matched to the U.S.
Consulate in September to call

on Congress to push
the bill through at a
time of confrontation
between Beijing and

Washington, with the two sides
in the middle of a trade war.

Both Beijing and the
Hong Kong government
denounced the U.S. move.

Regina Ip, the former secretary
for security of Hong Kong
and a current Cabinet member,

says the move could
backfire, adversely affecting
U.S.-Hong Kong trade and
diplomatic relations.

REGINA IP, Member, Legislative
Council: Beijing has said
there will be countermeasures.

Hong Kong might take
countermeasures.

If they impose sanctions
on people in charge,
quite unnecessarily,
totally unwarranted,

we might have to
take countermeasures.

DIVYA GOPALAN: The authorities
have tried to quell the
unrest by using a colonial era

emergency measure to ban face
masks, which had become a symbol
of the leaderless movement.

This week, the high
court overturned that
ruling, saying it was
unconstitutional, according

to Hong Kong's basic law.

But the Chinese government
waded in, saying the court's
ruling was a blatant challenge

to their authority and that
only they had the right to
decide on issues regarding the

constitution.

So now the courts have
reinstated the ban for
seven days, until the
Hong Kong government

can appeal the ruling.

ANSON CHAN, Former Chief
Secretary of Hong Kong: Who will
ever believe that our courts

in Hong Kong are independent?

As chief secretary, Anson Chan
oversaw the transition of Hong
Kong from a British colony

to special administrative
region, or SAR, of China.

And she says it's this kind
of interference by the Chinese
government that has angered

many people in Hong Kong.

ANSON CHAN: This protest
movement is not about
overthrowing the SAR
government or the central

government.

It is about reminding the
central government, you promised
Hong Kong people a high degree

of autonomy.

And you must stick
to these promises.

DIVYA GOPALAN: The Beijing
government says it's living up
to its commitment to provide

autonomy to Hong Kong.

And while Sunday's elections
are seen as important,
the results are not
likely to quell the crisis

gripping the city.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm
Divya Gopalan in Hong Kong.