'We shall not be moved': Hong Kong activists keep Occupy's protest presence alive

To many, the Occupy movement around Hong Kong may have ended months ago following a series of police clearance operations, but a handful of protesters insist on maintaining a continued presence even today.

Neither young nor radical, the group of about 10 retirees and middle-aged women and men have gathered every evening in Mong Kok, sometimes holding yellow umbrellas, sometimes playing old songs replaced with lyrics promoting democracy.

Passers-by pay little attention to these daily protests, seemingly regarding participants as being akin to internet salespeople who obstruct the street. But the protesters' passion has never been extinguished.

"We still haven't got democracy, despite last year's Occupy. We need to continue our fight here," retired Correctional Services Department officer Chin Po-fun said on Sai Yeung Choi Street South as youngsters queued up for cinema tickets nearby.

Chin, who is in her mid-fifties, said she was driven to protest because of anger over the "unreasonable" treatment of demonstrators by police during the civil disobedience movement.

"I know what the law is. And the police abused it in the worst possible way. I'm sad the government did nothing but glorify that," she said.