Decision to close for day hits Central's high-end stores in the pocket
A number of luxury shops have decided to stay shut and police have erected barriers in anticipation of marchers' arrival and students' planned sit-in tonight
At least six luxury shops on Chater Road stayed closed yesterday ahead of an overnight sit-in by student groups.
Almost half of the shops on the ground floor of The Landmark mall also remained shut.
Student activist groups the Federation of Students and Scholarism described last night's sit-in - which began after the march and was due to end at 8.30am today - as a rehearsal for Occupy Central.
They also said they would camp outside Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's office in Admiralty to wait for him to come to work this morning.
A police source previously told the South China Morning Post the force would have 4,000 officers on duty - the largest deployment since the Korean farmers' protest at the World Trade Organisation's ministerial conference in 2005. At noon yesterday, officers set up water-filled barricades on Chater Road.
They said if the road was blocked, officers would remove protesters physically should a warning be ignored.