Pleas for Hong Kong ministers to quit during Occupy protests were ignored, says movement co-founder

Occupy leaders and middlemen urged some government ministers and Executive Council members to quit in the early days of the pro-democracy sit-ins last year to calm the angry crowds, but none agreed - so the authorities were under less pressure to make concessions on political reform, the Post has learned.

The Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, one of three Occupy Central co-founders, believed the resignation of any key official right after 87 tear gas canisters were fired at protesters on September 28 could have pressured both the central and local governments into compromising on Beijing-decreed reforms for the 2017 chief executive poll.

"We sent the message to Beijing [through middlemen] saying we hoped Leung Chun-ying would step down as chief executive, but [we were told] it was impossible," Chu told the South China Morning Post ahead of the first anniversary of the 79-day occupation he and his allies launched in Admiralty a year ago. The sit-ins spread to Mong Kok and Causeway Bay hours later.

"Another way that could have helped reverse things was having ministers abandon ship," he said.

At the start of the occupation, tensions ran high as young protesters besieged government offices in Tamar after their ultimatum for Leung to resign expired.