Joshua Wong, one of the leaders of the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, ended his hunger strike on Saturday after nearly five days.
The 18-year-old stopped his "indefinite" hunger strike at the request of his doctor, after consuming only water, a teaspoon of sugar and 100 milliliters of an energy drink, he said. Wong made the announcement on his Facebook and Twitter accounts.
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Post by 黃之鋒 Joshua.
"I feel extremely unwell. I feel dizzy and my limbs are weak," Wong said Saturday in a statement, according to the New York Times. "Although I have ended the hunger strike, it doesn’t mean that the government can ignore our requests."
The end of Wong's strike could be seen as another setback for a movement that after two months of protests, is starting to falter. The number of protesters on Hong Kong's streets are not as high as they used to be; only two camps remain in the city's center, according to the BBC.
The student demonstrators want electoral reforms and for China to drop restrictions on Hong Kong's 2017 elections. Wong's hunger strike was yet another attempt to force local authorities into negotiating with the student protesters, but the government has so far has been seemingly content to wait for the movement to fizzle.
After his first meal in almost five days, Wong returned to the protests.
Joshua Wong and Isabella Lo is back #OccupyHK pic.twitter.com/SCqRfYFgDG— Kris Cheng (@krislc) December 6, 2014
Additional reporting by The Associated Press