As Hong Kong braces for huge pro-democracy rallies, leader CY Leung has urged protesters to back electoral reforms set out by Beijing.

Speaking early on the National Day holiday, Mr Leung said Hong Kong should work with Beijing to achieve progress.

The protesters want Beijing to withdraw plans to vet candidates for the next Hong Kong leadership election in 2017.

Activists say they expect the biggest demonstrations yet on the streets to coincide with the holiday.

Thousands of protesters have gathered at the main protests site in the Central business district, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok. A fourth protest site has also spread to Canton Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, a major shopping district several roads south of Mong Kok.

Mr Leung, Hong Kong's chief executive, has rejected campaigners' calls for him to stand down. Chinese President Xi Jinping has reaffirmed Beijing's control over the territory.

The 65th anniversary of China's communist revolution began in Hong Kong with a flag-raising ceremony made for TV audiences across China. Nothing was allowed to disrupt the choreography.

The only members of the public allowed to attend were dressed in red baseball caps and T-shirts, waving Chinese flags. One told me the democracy protesters "had ulterior motives and were marginal anyway".

Police were in attendance to protect both the flag and embattled Chief Executive CY Leung. He reminded his fellow citizens that Hong Kong's special status in China, known as "one country, two systems", means just that. It was an implied rebuke to protestors demanding Beijing overturn its restrictions on nominations for the 2017 leadership election.

The protesters are determined to be seen and heard. Some were outside the ceremony, turning their backs on the national flag.

And less than a mile away, crowds were voting with their feet, streaming into what they're now calling Democracy Square, an encampment filled with umbrellas and a sea of freedom flags. The national flag of China nowhere to be seen.

The BBC's Juliana Liu, in Hong Kong, says many families and parents with young children are in the streets due to the holiday, but the public do not expect to see any violence or trouble on Wednesday.

It is a completely different atmosphere to that of Sunday, when police fired tear gas and pepper spray at the crowds, she adds.

Early on Wednesday, Mr Leung attended a ceremony in Hong Kong marking China's 65th National Day, which celebrates the founding of communist China in 1949.

(BBC)