'If we bow to fate, we will lose everything', says Occupy Central's Reverend Chu Yiu-ming

"I am really afraid of being sent to jail … I am really afraid of the Communist Party," says Occupy Central co-founder Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, his usually confident voice shaking as he speaks.

Within weeks, perhaps days, the veteran democracy fighter and his two comrades, academics Benny Tai Yiu-ting and Dr Chan Kin-man, will lead volunteers to break the law by blockading streets to protest against Beijing's restrictive framework on the city's political reform. What happens next is anyone's guess - but the clergyman knows he could end up behind bars.

Chu avoids rhetoric, but in an interview with the South China Morning Post he admitted his fear while reiterating his determination to join the mass sit-in.

Having grown up on the mainland, he witnessed the cruelty of the Cultural Revolution and retains his fear of the party.

"But I am ready to conquer and pay the price [for democracy]," he said. "I am already 70 years old … I come out just in the hope of clearing some obstacles and paving a smoother road for our next generation, so that they can have an easier life."

Chu laments an atmosphere which has left Hongkongers feeling frustrated and helpless at their inability to control their fate, but says people should not move away or simply accept the situation, adding: "If we bow to fate, we will lose everything."

The Baptist minister has devoted more than three decades to the fight for democracy, and said Hongkongers' dissatisfaction had deep roots, back to the 1980s when they had no say in talks over the then-colony's future.