Protestors have demanded that Hong Kong’s leader step down by noon Thursday, but will this be enough to force resignation of the current leadership? Robert Daly discusses the topic with The Daily Rundown.

"This is a key moment for the students. The chief executive is certainly not going to leave and the crowds are now smaller than they have been; it is reasonable to assume that those who remain are more radical, are willing to go a little bit further. So if the students move toward occupying buildings, two things could happen. One is the police could use some more coercive measure, as you mentioned. Two is they run the risk of losing the support of more of the people of Hong Kong. Now this could break either way. People in Hong Kong could be angered by police violence, but they could also be put off by a more radical student movement that was willing to push the government too far, too fast. This is a key day in the protests."

He also comments, "I think, one thing that's interesting about the 'waiting out' strategy is that we haven't seen real leadership from Hong Kong. We've seen declarations that this is illegal activity and that the protestors should disperse, and you've seen a hunkering down, but no real effort to get ahead of this, to lead public opinion, to explain why it's in Hong Kong's interests to proceed with the elections in the way that Beijing has mandated. So 'waiting out'? Yes, but also I think a vacuum of leadership in Hong Kong itself."