China's President
Xi Jinping warned Thursday that
protests in Hong Kong threaten the "one country, two systems" principle governing the semi-autonomous city that has tipped into worsening violence with two dead in a week.
Hong Kong has been ruled by a unique system guaranteeing greater freedoms than on the mainland since its handover from
British rule to
China in 1997.
For a fourth straight day on Thursday,
protesters caused widespread disruption with barricades and rallies, as the
police drafted in reinforcements and the government denied rumours of an imminent curfew.