Protesters take pictures with their mobile phones as they block the main street to the financial Central district, outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong
Protesters take pictures with their mobile phones as they block the main street to the financial Central district, outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong September 29, 2014. Hong Kong democracy protesters defied volleys of tear gas and police baton charges to stand firm in the centre of the global financial hub on Monday, one of the biggest political challenges for China since the Tiananmen Square crackdown 25 years ago. The Communist government in Beijing made clear it would not tolerate dissent, and warned against any foreign interference as thousands of protesters massed for a fourth night in the free-wheeling, capitalist city of more than 7 million people. Reuters
Protesters take pictures with their mobile phones as they block the main street to the financial Central district, outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong September 29, 2014. Hong Kong democracy protesters defied volleys of tear gas and police baton charges to stand firm in the centre of the global financial hub on Monday, one of the biggest political challenges for China since the Tiananmen Square crackdown 25 years ago. The Communist government in Beijing made clear it would not tolerate dissent, and warned against any foreign interference as thousands of protesters massed for a fourth night in the free-wheeling, capitalist city of more than 7 million people. REUTERS/Carlos Barria (CHINA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong caused the closure on Monday of Standard Chartered and other banks in the administrative region. It were not just over-the-counter services that were closed, even ATMS and cash deposit machines in some areas were also affected.

Standard Chartered said it has activated contingency plans so that there would be continuous service to its customers, while DBS, Singapore's largest bank, temporarily closed its Admiralty branch, reports BBC.

The protests that began on Sunday temporarily shuttered 29 bank branches, offices or ATMs of 17 banks, according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. The de-facto central bank also injected liquidity into the island's banking system.

The mass action, which blocked large parts of Hong Kong, aims to pressure Beijing to grant full democratic powers to the former Crown colony. Despite the police firing several rounds of tear gas to disperse the crowds, the protesters - who are mostly university students who skipped their classes - stayed on and slept on the streets.

Andrew Colquhoun, head of Fitch Ratings' Asia-Pacific Sovereigns, said that on a short-term, the protest would likely not affect Hong Kong's creditworthiness.

However, it has caused outages in popular photo-sharing app Instagram in mainland China, reports The Wall Street Journal. A spokeswoman of Facebook, the parent company of Instagram, said it is looking into the situation.

The outage could possibly be due to efforts by Beijing censors blocking the spread of 7,700 photos related to the protest in Hong Kong with the hashtag #occupycentral. Only mainland resident-users of Instagram are affected, while Hong Kong residents and those from other countries could view the images of masked students and clouds of gas. Even media was gassed.

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