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Amy Nip

Jennifer Ngo

"Luffy", wearing a straw hat like that of his namesake in the anime One Piece, stood at the protest barricade in front of the Mandarin Oriental yesterday, issuing instructions and giving advice.
He told the crowd about legal liabilities, escape routes and strategies and led about 100 in a drill, practising how to open their umbrellas if police approached.
"People in the front rows should open the umbrellas in defence of pepper spray. In case there is tear gas, we should step back slowly," he told the crowd using a speaker.
He was clearly exercising a leadership role - even though he had joined the protest only the previous night.
Luffy, who has little activism experience, joined after seeing the use of tear gas on protesters.
"I can't tolerate the police violence," he said. "I started by helping to move supplies. Then I helped build the barricades. Finally I ended up at the front line."
His role in Occupy Central is typical of the way youngsters, who previously hadn't known each other, have risen to take charge of the barricades and given focus to a guerilla movement with no real leadership.
In contrast to the way in which people walked around freely on Sunday, the crowd was more controlled on Monday night and yesterday as the impromptu leaders oversaw groups of hundreds and exchanged tactics with fellow leaders in the neighbourhood.
Barricades were set up on at least four roads in Central, including the intersection of Ice House Street with three roads - Connaught Road Central, Chater Road, and Des Voeux Road Central. Another was on Queensway.
Organisation of a different kind was evident in Causeway Bay, where volunteers set up a recycling centre.
"We saw how some youngsters were trying to organise a rubbish collection, so we pitched in and set up this recycling station," said e-marketer Jan Sham, manning a row of boxes labelled "plastic", "tins" and "rubbish".
In Mong Kok, Christine Leung Chui-shan, a member of the Federation of Students stationed in Mong Kok, said the group had organised roles for students. Some monitored the crowd for undercover police, others managed the crowd and supplies.
In Central, Luffy's instructions were being translated into English by Kaiten Ma.
Ma, 19, back in Hong Kong for a break from his overseas studies, spent his first day on the street on Monday. "My parents didn't want me to come. But one should try when they are young, or there will be too many regrets," he said.
Other youngsters travelled back and forth between Admiralty and Central, attempting to form a united front in Central. When the crowd thinned past midnight, the leaders argued among themselves if they should retreat towards Admiralty. Most agreed and mobilised the crowd, but several insisted otherwise.
The Federation of Students had wanted protesters to stay in the heart of Central, but its representative came too late - when she arrived people had moved to a new barricade near City Hall.
Transport of supplies, meanwhile, was taken up by motorcyclists. They were spotted in both Central and Causeway Bay, dropping bags off at barricades.
In Causeway Bay, besides the recycling stations, there were medical, food and supplies stations along Yee Wo Street.
Civil engineer Johnny So, 25, volunteering as the "sound man" for the sit-in, said he had borrowed equipment from friends.
"I took part in this because I couldn't stomach what was happening," he said, referring to police heavy-handedness and how the government was ignoring the students. "There are many ways of expressing opinions, but none of them seem to get through."
By yesterday morning, most of the crowd had left Causeway Bay, with only 200 people remaining at 8am. But the streets were left clean as teams of youngsters donned gloves and masks and picked up rubbish.
 


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Some protesters transport supplies, some manage them, some recycle them. Photo: David Wong

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News

Hong Kong

'Guerilla' action has become a focused operation with crowd monitors, sound men and recyclers


"Luffy", wearing a straw hat like that of his namesake in the anime One Piece, stood at the protest barricade in front of the Mandarin Oriental yesterday, issuing instructions and giving advice.


Impromptu leaders turn Occupy's 'guerilla' action into a highly focused operation

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}'Guerilla' action has become a focused operation with crowd monitors, sound men and recyclers

'Guerilla' action has become a focused operation with crowd monitors, sound men and recyclers