Hong Kong officials ended their first round of talks

Hong Kong officials have ended their first round of talks with students, with the government's chief negotiator saying she hoped for further meetings with protest leaders.

Students at the talks reiterated their demand for an unrestricted choice of candidates in the election for the territory's chief executive in 2017.

But both Hong Kong and Beijing officials have said this is impossible.

Protests have blocked key parts of the city, although numbers have fallen.

The BBC's Juliana Liu in Hong Kong says that although demonstrators know the chances of getting what they want are almost zero, they are staying on the streets to show authorities that the struggle for democratic reform is a long-term fight.

'Numbers game' The government's negotiation team was led by the city's most senior civil servant, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, and the students were represented by five leaders.

Meetings have been called off twice in recent weeks.

The talks, which began at 18:00 local time (11:00 BST), focused on the students' demands that China reconsiders its ruling on how candidates for elections will be chosen.

Student leaders reiterated their position that they want Hong Kong leadership elections to be more democratic - a demand rejected by Ms Lam.

"As far as their position is concerned I'm afraid we can only agree to disagree," she said.

Alex Chow, secretary general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, said the government's stance was "vague".

"We would say that the government needs to further explain it in front of the public," he added.