It has been a virtual consensus in political circles that the Occupy Central movement has hit a nerve in Beijing.
But while the focus has been on the planned day of action itself - which is more than a year away - the organisers themselves are concentrating on their three "Deliberation Days" in which they hope Hongkongers will develop a way to achieve universal suffrage in the 2017 Chief Executive election.
The first D-Day is on June 9 and should see 500 supporters and 100 randomly invited members of the public gather at Hong Kong University, where Benny Tai Yiu-ting, who has spearheaded the movement, is a professor of law.
Tai is confident the proposal that emerges will not be a radical one given it would by then have been "deliberated" by a majority of Hong Kong people. He believed it should be acceptable to Beijing - in which case there would be no need for the planned blockade of Central.
But some pan-democrats fear the proposal will be scuppered, noting that some pro-Beijing newspapers, together with some business chambers, are attacking the campaign of deliberative democracy, a process pioneered by Stanford University professor James S. Fishkin.
"I would be surprised if the movement's programme runs as smoothly as planned before the occupy action," said a veteran democrat. "If the pro-Beijing camp boycotts its events, such as the electronic voting, it will weaken the representation of the whole campaign."