Occupy takes seed of an idea from sunflower movement

Occupy Central organisers are using the "self-policing" system practised by participants in Taiwan's "sunflower movement" protests six months ago as a reference point for crowd control, a leader of the local civil disobedience campaign says.

"Both movements share the principle of peaceful struggle… But … the sunflower movement was ad hoc and we have gone through a much longer period of discussion beforehand," said Dr Chan Kin-man, a co-organiser of Occupy Central, referring to the sit-in in Taipei in March against a trade pact with the mainland.

Self-policing was necessary to prevent some participants from taking more radical action, the academic said. He cited Taiwanese students' occupation of their legislature building, during which a small group deviated from the plan by storming government headquarters.

After the rowdy protest at the Executive Yuan, where police dispersed hundreds of students using water cannons and batons, protestors were trained to appeal for co-operation in the crowd when they saw someone not complying with organisers' rules. For example, participants would shout "Sit down!" in unison when someone stood up while he should be sitting, or "Return!" when someone tried to walk in the wrong direction, which would disrupt the crowd.

Occupy is expected to block streets in the heart of the city soon, after Beijing set tight restrictions on candidate nominations for the 2017 chief executive election.

Chan said the so-called rehearsal of Occupy Central - a student-led overnight sit-in on Chater Road after the July 1 march - had followed the Taiwanese students' example and proved self-policing was effective.