Signs of friction among protest groups as demonstration sites extended

The occupation of Tsim Sha Tsui late on Tuesday and the flag- raising ceremony a few hours later revealed splits in strategies and frictions emerging among the growing number of protesters against Beijing's political reform framework.

Metal barricades and a truck were used to block a section of Canton Road in an apparently spontaneous sit-in by a few hundred protesters in Tsim Sha Tsui on Tuesday night.

Unlike the three other sit-in sites - Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok - no campaign leaders came to give lectures and no marshals from the student groups or the Occupy Central movement could be spotted.

The supply station - which gave out face masks, umbrellas and refreshments - was run by non-student volunteers.

Lester Shum, deputy secretary general of the Federation of Students, said they could not stop people extending the protest to more sites but would call on supporters to remain in the three original areas.

And Joshua Wong Chi-fung, convenor of the student activist group Scholarism, said the sit-in in Tsim Sha Tsui had not been mobilised by them.

"The turnout … has far exceeded our expectations. We have not got enough resources to provide supplies to the [extra] site," he added.