How long will Hong Kong protesters "wait and see"?

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's top leader has said his government will talk with protesters, but the pro-democracy movement which has filled central Hong Kong's streets for days is calling for those talks to be out in the open, and threatening to continue occupying parts of the city if the talks don't go their way.

CBS News correspondent Seth Doane said there were not as many people on the streets Friday, possibly because on-and-off rain was keeping them away, or perhaps the promise of talks has been taken as something of a victory.

But there are still many questions about how meaningful those talks will be.

Protesters had set a midnight deadline for Hong Kong's Beijing-backed Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to step down, threatening to "occupy" a government building if he remained in office. Doane was there as the deadline approached: police with riot gear on one side of the barricades, and protesters on the other.

The protesters starting putting on masks and goggles and raising sheets of plastic to protect themselves. They were worried about a possible crackdown.

But at 11:30 p.m., Leung held a press conference and made it clear he would not be stepping down, but announced the appointment of his deputy to talk with protesters.

An agitated crowd chanted to each other in Cantonese: "keep calm."

Asked what he thought of how the events came to pass, a protester named Ivan asked Doane, "can I swear?" And then replied bluntly: "it's a lot of crap."

At 20, Ivan is typical of many of the protesters, and he said he was worried that the presence of several different protest groups makes it difficult for the pro-democracy movement to present a clear vision.

"No one has done anything - no one has said anything that has meaning tonight," said Ivan, conveying his disappointment. "There's no conclusions, no one has an idea of what to do next. Everyone's lost."

He said he would just have to "wait and see."

"Wait and see" was very much the order of the day in Hong Kong. A front-page article in the People's Daily," the Communist Party mouthpiece, reminded Chinese of the government's official stance; that the protesters' demands for "unfettered elections" were "neither legal... nor reasonable."

The stock market in vital Asian powerhouse that is Hong Kong has been down all week. The number of tourists is down, too, and protesters know that keeping the goodwill of Hong Kong's residents is an important piece of this.

On Friday, fights broke out between pro-Beijing residents and protesters in a popular shopping district in Hong Kong. Police struggled to keep the two sides apart.