Government officials are demanding that pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong put an end to their weeklong rally by Monday.

Thousands of protesters began pouring into the streets of Hong Kong last Sunday to call for fair democratic elections after Beijing announced on Aug. 31 a plan to limit the committee that selects candidates to run in the upcoming 2017 Hong Kong election. As a result, democratic candidates would be blocked from campaigning since all candidates must undergo a vetting process by the pro-Beijing committee.

Critics say the vote will be useless if all the candidates are handpicked by Beijing and that Chinese government is "encroaching too much on the affairs of Hong Kong, a semiautonomous Chinese territory," reports CNN.

"For the protesters, this does not constitute universal suffrage," said Dr. Elizabeth Economy, the director of Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, to ABC News.

In response to the protests, the Chinese government has double downed on their Aug. 31 decision, and Hong Kong's Chief Executive C.Y. Leung has issued a warning that protesters have until Monday to retreat.

"The government and the police have the responsibilities and determination to take all necessary actions to restore social order," he said in his televised address Saturday evening.

He also condemned protesters for preventing 3,000 government employees from going to work Friday by blocking the entrances to the city's chief executive office building.

"There are numerous social problems to be solved, but the proper way is through rational communication, finding commonalities and preserving differences -- not through resistance on (The) street that worsens the problem," he said.

However, the protesters have shown no sign of backing down and are calling for Leung -- who they say is a puppet for Beijing -- to resign.

On Saturday, tension continued to escalate after protesters accused the government of paying off criminal gangs to break up pro-democracy protests.

According to Legislator James To, the deputy chairman of the Hong Kong legislative council's security panel, the "government has used organized, orchestrated forces and even triad gangs in [an] attempt to disperse citizens," reports the South China Morning Post.

Meanwhile, on Friday, peaceful protests turned violent after the demonstrators clashed with opponents of the movement in Mong Kok.

By Saturday morning, 19 people were arrested and at least 12 people and six officers were injured, reports Yahoo! News.