'We're organised, motivated - and employed'
To their critics, they are a disorganised rabble who have nothing better to do with their time.
Some media reports have dismissed the Post-80s Anti-Express Railway Group as a loose band summoned online to take to the streets because they cannot get decent jobs.
Nothing could be further from the truth, the young people insist. They say they are running a well-organised campaign fighting for social justice.
Chan King-fai, a core member, said: 'We all have proper jobs. We act together because we are concerned with urban development and uphold social values which we treasure.'
Chan, born in 1982, added: 'It is a fantasy to think our discontent stems from low social mobility.'
Of the 30-odd members of his group, some teach in secondary schools and universities, some work for community organisations, and others, like him, are freelance writers.
The group has grown over the past five years through campaigns to preserve the Star Ferry Pier, Queen's Pier and Wedding Card Street in Wan Chai.
'Officials and pro-government professionals should not judge us with their old values,' he said.
Chan said it was simply not true to say campaigns were not organised. Over the past few weeks, his group had met three times a week, and organised a trek across the city to raise people's awareness of the issue.
The internet was only a tool for them, he said. Facebook, for example, was an important medium to convey their message in posters, video clips and photos. 'These are things which mainstream media are unable to do,' he said.
The Facebook group calling for people to join the rally to 'jam' the Legislative Council yesterday drew more than 1,600 responses from users who said they 'might attend'. Their assembly attracted more than 1,000 people, including student union representatives from universities, residents of To Kwa Wan concerned about the impact of the project on their community, people who simply came to see what was happening, and Tsoi Yuen Tsuen villagers whose homes are to be flattened. Working with them were reporters from In-Media, an online platform where young activists and journalists write about social issues. They updated their website every few minutes on the situation inside and outside Legco.
