24 September 2014 Last updated at 05:08 ET
written by Carrie Gracie
Students attend the rally at Chinese University on September 22, 2014 in Hong Kong
Students in Hong Kong want genuine universal suffrage for the special administrative region of China
“When dictatorship becomes a fact, revolution becomes a duty.”
A T-shirt slogan seen in China this week. But this is not President Xi Jinping’s T-shirt, nor is it merchandising from the Chinese Communist Party.
Instead the call to arms is emblazoned across the chest of a student in Hong Kong.
Thousands are boycotting classes this week, gathering instead on a university campus wearing yellow ribbons and waving placards; a determined but peaceful exercise in people power and all of them saying the same thing: “I want my voice to be heard. We want real democracy. Genuine universal suffrage for Hong Kong.”