Though the Occupy Central sit-ins in Hong Kong have come to an end, protest leaders are mulling another wave of protests to demand "genuine democracy." The pan-democracy leaders have risen to fame for their political activism, while disorientation and a feeling of being marginalized are rising among some of the participants.

Onlookers watch as pan-democracy activists shut down parts of downtown Hong Kong on October 1, 2014. Photo: CFP

"We'll be back," reads a message written in chalk on a bustling road in Hong Kong's Admiralty district outside the government's headquarters.

Until early December, that road was occupied by protesters participating in the biggest sit-in in Hong Kong's history.

But both central and local governments have since reiterated that the election framework set by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on August 31, 2014 is final and will not change because of the opposition by some parties.

In post-Occupy Central Hong Kong, life in the city seems to have returned to normality after the clearance of the main protest site in Admiralty a few weeks ago. Yet as the city's political reforms go on, Hong Kong's pan-democracy campaign is off the streets but has not disappeared.

The 79 days of protests have had a far-reaching effect on the political landscape of Hong Kong, as pan-democracy opposition parties are becoming more dispersed, confrontational, and ready to adopt more radical and creative tactics to fight for their demands.

"The sit-in protests were only the first wave of the movement. Many more waves of the democracy movement are coming. The Civic Party will never be the same again," declared lawmaker and Civic Party leader Alan Leong in a press conference in which he announced the party's direction in 2015.

Leong told the Global Times that the Civic Party, Hong Kong's third largest political party, which is made up of pan-democratic elites and lawyers, is experiencing a fundamental shift in direction amid Hong Kong's rapidly changing political landscape.

"We are going to reassert Hong Kong values, such as our culture, language and institutions. The administration needs to adopt a Hong Kong angle [when deciding on political reform]," Leong said.

However, Zhang Rongshun, vice-chairman of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National Peoples' Congress Standing Committee, has said that some Hongkongers need to be "re-enlightened" about the "one country, two systems" principle, implying that some in the city have failed understanding the principle.

While showing no ambiguity that his party plans to push a "local narrative," Leong denied that it is seeking independence for Hong Kong.

2015 will be a critical year for Hong Kong's ongoing political reform. Earlier this month, the Hong Kong government began a second round of public consultation regarding planned reform of the way that the city's next Chief Executive will be elected. Pan-democracy legislators have vowed to veto any government proposals that do not match their vision of a "genuine" democracy.

Describing himself an "old and outgoing politician," Leong said students and radical protesters are playing an increasingly dominant role in the pan-democracy campaign, and that he and his party are ready to help facilitate the political participation of these young people.

"We are preparing for a second wave of the Occupy campaign," said Leong.

This is an extension of the long-running cooperation between pan-democracy politicians and protesters. During the Occupy protests, some pan-democracy legislators allowed protest leaders to use their offices in the Legislative Council building as the "headquarters" of the protest camp in Admiralty. Some of the Occupy camp's organizing committee volunteers are members of pan-democratic parties.

Radical new approaches

Gary Cheung Chun-ho, 14, is the founder of the Students Awaken group and one of Hong Kong's up-and-coming young leaders. Currently leading a group of 50 students, Cheung is one year younger than Joshua Wong Chi-fung, one of Hong Kong's most influential student activists, was when he started Scholarism.

On Christmas Eve, Cheung and the rest of Students Awaken led a protest that attracted hundreds of participants, proving the ability of student groups like Cheung's to attract supporters.

Cheung had just left a court hearing regarding his participation in the Occupy protests and was discussing political reform with his members before stopping to speak to the Global Times.

"I was inspired by the protests against the implementation of national education in 2012, and founded Students Awaken around the time when the Occupy protests started in October," Cheung said, illustrating how one protest could give rise to another protest leader as protest groups became more dispersed and widespread.

"The Occupy protest was only the first mass protest in Hong Kong. The methods of resistance have changed after the protest. This time we tried a sit-in. Next time we may try other more creative methods and see which ones work."

Post-Occupy groups within the pan-democracy movement have shifted their tactics from mass, static sit-in protests to spontaneous guerilla actions such as a "shopping tour" protest in Mongkok, when a tiny crowd of "shoppers" popped up suddenly, shouting slogans as they temporarily blocked crowded roads before dispersing.

Some of the protesters have also mulled a series of non-cooperation measures to express their discontent, for example paying taxes with coins or small-denomination bills to create extra work for the government and delaying paying their rent on public housing. Sympathetic lawmakers have also vowed that they will filibuster and block government bills.

These new forms of action, according to Cheung, have proven that Hong Kong's protesters have become more active in experimenting with new ways to continue their fight after the Occupy protest.

"If one approach doesn't work, we may try other new methods," Cheung said. "I don't oppose a radical approach. All I care about is the effectiveness and timing."

Among this generation radicalized by protests, Cheung said that more and more student groups like his are springing up in wake of the Occupy protests, and that they are in close contact with each other.

Yet a recent study conducted by the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies has proven that radical approaches have become less popular among the public at large.

According to the November study, nearly 40 percent of respondents who regard themselves as supporters of the pan-democracy camp said they do not support radical moves by pan-democracy politicians or protesters, a 14 percent rise in the number of people who felt this way in 2013.

The waning support of radical approaches, according to the institute's researchers, may have been caused by the social conflicts that were a result of the Occupy sit-ins.

Still hanging around

As protest groups become increasingly scattered, protesters who remain in the Admiralty protest site have also become more and more disoriented.

On a weekday afternoon in the first week of January there were still around 20 tents in front of the city's Legislative council building, more than half of which were empty. Rather than a protest camp, the site has become a temporary shelter with free food and drinks provided by volunteers.

A group of four protesters in their 20s who became friends during the protests said that they had decided to live together in a tent.

The four told the Global Times they have quit their jobs to remain at the site, and seldom return home.

Calling themselves "marginalized youth," the protest has given the four a platform to vent their anger about the city's current political system. "We cannot choose our boss already. Why can't we choose our own leader?" one of them asked.

Compared to the protest leaders, these protesters are less articulate when explaining their end goal, and have become disoriented in the absence of protest leaders.

Occupy Central was first initiated by two university scholars, Benny Tai Yiu-ting and Chan Kin-man and a Baptist minister named Chu Yiu-ming. But the trio were soon marginalized as leaders by the emergence of student leaders like Joshua Wong Chi-fung from Scholarism and Alex Chow Yong-kang from the Hong Kong Federation of Students.

As the protests dragged on, weak leadership and a lack of clear objectives contributed to the eventual decline of the popularity of the protests.

The four in the tent gave a detailed account of how they clashed with police, and pledged that they will continue to live in the tent "until a real election became possible."

The four said they are willing to join protests led by any group, such as the "shopping tour" protest in Mong Kok.

"The next wave [of protest] is coming. We will continue to hang around, until our demands are fulfilled," one of them said.

But when asked if they think that continuing to stay in the tent would be an effective way to achieve their goal, their responses became ambiguous.

"I was among the people who stormed into the government headquarters when Joshua Wong rallied us," said one of them. But he is now more cautious about joining these prominent protest groups.

"They [protest leaders] are famous. They are not afraid of being arrested. But nobody will care about us when we are arrested," he said.

"They [Scholarism] posted their lawyers' contact information online and said we can call them for legal assistance if we are arrested. But on the day of the clearances [in Admiralty on December 11] when one of our friends was arrested, he waited for six hours for help. Of course they will take care of their people first," he added.