Some of Hong Kong’s biggest banks published full-page newspaper advertisements… calling for the preservation of law and order in the Chinese territory and condemning violence, as weeks of pro-democracy protests show no sign of abating.

HSBC, Standard Chartered and Bank of East Asia, which published the advertisements in major newspapers in the Asian financial hub, all urged the restoration of social order…

Standard Chartered said in... advertisements the bank supported the special administrative region’s government to uphold social order and “guard the status of Hong Kong as an international financial center”.

HSBC said all parties must resolve disagreement through communication rather than violence. Neither HSBC nor Bank of East Asia referred to the government in their advertisements…