“I don’t expect conversations to easily untie the knot, stop demonstrations, or provide solutions to problems, but to continue to struggle is not a way forward,” she added.

Hong Kong’s subway operator said on Sunday that for the second day in a row it was closing stops in an area where a police-authorized protest was planned. Chinese state news media had been highly critical of the subway operator, the MTR Corporation, after special service trains were used to disperse protesters from a station in the satellite town of Yuen Long on Wednesday.

That special train service helped prevent a clash on Wednesday, but the subway operator was denounced by The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, as “working hand in glove with rioters.”

The MTR Corporation said on Sunday that it was closing three stations served by two lines in the Tsuen Wan area because of the protests, after closing four stations in the Kwun Tong area on Saturday. The closings were criticized not just for preventing participation in authorized protests, but also for inconveniencing other rail users. Graffiti in the Choi Hung station called the MTR “party rail.”

Adi Lau, the MTR operations director, said in a message posted Saturday on Facebook that the violence and vandalism in MTR stations in recent months had been “the biggest challenge that MTR had faced in four decades.”

He said the decision to close stations was done in conjunction with the police force and other government departments, and was made out of safety considerations, including concerns from employees who felt threatened.

The MTR also obtained a court injunction on Friday against anyone interfering with train operations, damaging property or causing disturbances. Two weeks ago the airport authority also obtained an interim injunction to restrict access after protests led to canceled flights, chaos and violence in the airport.