City Beat | Beijing's rallying cry to Hong Kong … and 1.3 billion mainlanders

So after a week of protesters occupying the city's busiest areas, the question over the weekend was not when will it end, but how will it end.

As this goes to print, the entrance to the government headquarters in Admiralty is still blocked. The situation is still tense in Mong Kok, where opponents of the Occupy movement continue to clash with pro-democracy protesters. And the key organisers of the mass rallies that have paralysed parts of the city and made headlines around the world are still working behind the scenes with key figures from across the political spectrum to bring the protests to a peaceful end.

But amid all of this, there is one aspect that should not be overlooked: who was Beijing targeting with its reaction?

The central government has taken a hard line on the protests - against the National People's Congress Standing Committee's decision in August to vet candidates in the 2017 chief executive election - in state media editorials last week.

Official mouthpiece the People's Daily has for four consecutive days run strongly worded editorials, and reports on state broadcaster CCTV have carried the same message: the Occupy movement is illegal; it is intended to challenge the NPC, the country's top legislature; and this is an attempt by a minority to incite a "colour revolution" on the mainland from Hong Kong.

"Colour revolution" was widely used to describe various movements in the former Soviet Union during the early 2000s that led to the overthrow of governments. It was also applied to Middle East uprisings in recent years.