HONG KONG (AP) — Protesters holed up in a Hong Kong university have partially cleared a road they were blocking and are demanding the government commit to holding local elections on Nov. 24.

A masked protester at the Chinese University of Hong Kong announced early Friday that the government has 24 hours to meet the demand.

Students and other protesters have taken over major campuses in Hong Kong, building barricades and stockpiling gasoline bombs and other weapons.

Public broadcaster RTHK said that one lane of the Tolo Highway was cleared in both directions, but the government had not yet reopened it to traffic.

Anti-government protests have riven Hong Kong for more than five months. Pro-democracy activists say the government may use the violence as a reason to cancel the elections.