HONG KONG - The Latest on local elections that took place amid the ongoing protests in Hong Kong (all times local):

7:10 p.m.

Hong Kong police are planning to send a team of negotiators into a university campus to coax a small group of protesters entrapped inside for over a week to surrender.

The move came after pro-democracy politicians, who won a landslide victory in Sunday’s district council elections, called for an end to the police siege at the Polytechnic University to let the protesters leave.

Some 1,100 protesters have surrendered after occupying the campus following intense clashes with police, but around 30 others are believed to still be hiding in the vast campus to avoid arrest.

District police officer Ho Yun-sing said Monday that a team of police negotiators, medical workers and independent mediators will enter the campus to find the holdouts amid concerns over their health and mental condition.

He said the aim is to persuade the protesters to leave, and not to arrest them.

___

4:20 p.m.

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy opposition has won a landslide victory in local elections in a clear rebuke to city leader Carrie Lam over her handling of violent protests that have divided the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

Wu Chi-wai, leader of the city’s biggest pro-democracy party, said Monday that the bloc won nearly 90 per cent of 452 district council seats, which will help them take unprecedented control of 17 out of 18 district councils.

The result of Sunday’s elections could force the central government in Beijing to rethink how to handle the unrest, which is now in its sixth month. The district councils have little power, but the vote became a referendum on public support for the protests.

___

2 p.m.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says Hong Kong is a part of China no matter what happens in the semiautonomous territory.

Wang spoke Monday to reporters in Tokyo. He made the remarks in response to a question about Hong Kong’s district council elections in which the pro-democracy opposition appears to have swept to a resounding victory.

Wang said: “No matter what kind of things happen in Hong Kong, Hong Kong is a part of Chinese territory.”

He added: “Any attempts to destroy Hong Kong or harm Hong Kong’s stability and development cannot possibly succeed.”

Six months of protests have rocked the former British colony.

___

7:45 a.m.

The pro-democracy opposition appears to have swept to victory in Hong Kong elections, as a record turnout dealt a clear rebuke to city leader Carrie Lam and her handling of violent protests that have divided the Chinese territory.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Votes were still being counted Monday morning, but Hong Kong media tallied that the pro-democracy camp had easily won a majority in the vote for 452 district council seats.

The result will likely force the central government in Beijing to rethink how to handle the unrest, which is now in its sixth month.

The district councils have little power, but the vote became a referendum on the protests. The record 71 per cent turnout for a Hong Kong election was slowing down the vote counting.