Protest started on Sunday instead of next Wednesday and centred around government HQ instead of financial district
PUBLISHED ON SEP 28, 2014 9:04 AM 142 466 0 1
BY LI XUEYING, HONG KONG CORRESPONDENT
THE Occupy Central civil disobedience movement to agitate for greater democracy in Hong Kong – 1.5 years in the planning – has started.
Riding on the momentum of a students’ movement, Occupy Central organiser Benny Tai declared in a surprise announcement early Sunday morning that the sit-in, originally slated for Hong Kong’s financial district, will begin first around the government headquarters in Admiralty where student protesters have already massed for the past two nights.
“Occupy Central will start with occupying the government headquarters!” he declared. “Let’s begin a new era together – an era of civil disobedience.”
Occupy Central was widely expected to begin on China’s National Day on Wednesday. When asked about the earlier-than-planned start, Dr Tai said: “We think that in social movement. you have to respond to the situation of the society. We just need to respond to the very enthusiastic citizens.”
Crowds facing off with Hong Kong police calling for the bridge leading to the government headquarters in Admiralty to be opened to them on September 28, 2014. – ST PHOTO: LI XUEYING
On Saturday, he had dismissed students’ call to bring forward the Occupy movement, though fellow organiser Chan Kin Man told The Straits Times that they would observe the numbers and the mood of the crowd before deciding.