Occupy Central protest 'would need 20,000 participants for effective blockade'
Post study finds pro-democracy group may have to instead target specific junctions if it is to pull off threat of blockading business district
Organisers of the Occupy Central protest will need either to mobilise more than 20,000 protesters or strategically place participants at key junctions if they are to succeed in blockading the city's financial district, the has found.
Occupy Central organisers have previously said their aim is to rally 10,000 people and use non-violent means in an effort to paralyse the district to pressure authorities here and in Beijing over political reform.
But a study found it would take more than 11,000 people just to occupy Chater Road. The number is based on protesters locking arms, as they did in a July 2 sit-in protest on Chater Road. That protest required two adults for each square metre.
Most sit-in protests require 1.67 people per square metre, according to Paul Yip Siu-fai, a University of Hong Kong expert who specialises in crowd counting. But that density leaves large gaps between protesters, making it easy for police to disperse them.
It would take at least 22,000 protesters to form a single, high-density crowd covering Chater Road and a main section of Des Voeux Road Central - two of the main arteries of Central.
