Original Hong Kong Occupy plan veered off script
Benny Tai planned to launch action in Central, but young protesters ended up taking control in Admiralty and setting up three different camps
When University of Hong Kong legal scholar Benny Tai Yiu-ting penned his thoughts in a weekly column for the Hong Kong Economic Journal , he expected few readers to pay heed to it.
In the January 16, 2013 article, entitled "Civil disobedience is the most powerful weapon", Tai raised the idea of mobilising 10,000 people to block roads in the financial heart of the city should the central and local governments create a system for the 2017 chief executive election that did not allow a "genuine" choice of candidates.
To his pleasant surprise, the article caught on in the public sphere, laying the groundwork for turning his blueprint into a popular movement.
But today, the Occupy Central protests that Tai launched with conviction on September 28 have deviated markedly from his script - in ways that he and his two co-founders had not imagined in their wildest dreams.
The original plan was to camp on Chater Road in Central for three days from October 1, the National Day holiday. In early September, Tai said they would act on a date that "would cause the minimal damage to Hong Kong's economy".
He also pledged to keep the campaign away from residential districts to avoid harming people's livelihoods.