'The fight to reclaim Hong Kong... has just begun': 'Umbrella soldiers' look to bigger things after district polls

Some of the so-called "umbrella soldiers" who were moved to action by the Occupy protests last year may have romped home to victory in Sunday's district council elections, but they are not expecting the road ahead to be smooth.

Even as they keep an eye on the Legislative Council elections next year, they concede that they need to build a more sophisticated network of supporters and resources to sustain their electoral gains.

Several said joining the race for the first time opened their eyes to the organisational abilities of rivals from the pro-government camp.

"It was beyond our imagination how they can mobilise their voters in a short period of time," said Baggio Leung Chung-hang, convenor of post-Occupy group Youngspiration.

"They have money to hire agency companies to design their strategies. All their banners suddenly appeared in the district in just a few hours. But we have to do all this with our own hands and those of our supporters."