DAY 1 ||| Umbrella Revolution | Occupy Central

I went out to support the movement in the past few days.

Sunday 28th Sept, DAY 1

On Sunday evening, after seeing how the police treated the crowds with the pepper sprays and tear gas on TV, I decided I would go to Admiralty to support the people. I was absolutely furious. So I met up with a friend, along with some of her friends, and off we went across Victoria harbour, got off at WanChai station, as Admiralty station was shut down due to the protest.

We made our way to Harcourt Road at around 10pm. It was not as intense as I thought it would be. It wasn't terribly crowded either, as it was late at night, and some people had to work the next day.We waited a couple of hours because we heard that the police were going to take action at 12am.

The crowd at 10pm-ish

The atmosphere was rather peaceful, we sat down on the ground at the end because we stood up for too long. There were people giving out resources: masks for protection, bottled water, goggles and snacks. People were wrapping cling film onto their limbs, because pepper spray gives a burning sensation if it gets onto the skin, and wet their towels, because it is better to breathe with a wet towel covering their nose and mouth.

However, at 12pm, nothing happened. Most of us began to feel tired and sleepy. Many of us laid down on the ground, using our backpacks as pillows, and fall asleep. For the majority of us, it was very shallow sleep, as we had to be very alert of what was going on. Every other 10 or 20 minutes or so, there would be people shouting "GET UP!" as they thought the police were going to take action, we would put on our goggles and masks quickly and be ready for tear gas, however, most of the times, it was false alerts. At 2am, we were woken up by people, and things became very intense. We immediately put on our gear, the police also put on their gas masks. People take out their brollies for protection. Then, they chucked the tear gas into the crowd.

How I prepared for the tear gas.
Taken before(or maybe after) the attack.

Even with all the warnings,  the physical and mental preparation, I was still shocked and panicked for a millisecond. Then people around me started shouting "Walk away slowly! Do not run." My friends and I held hands and walked against the wind, towards the WanChai direction. One of the girls I was with, her eyes were affected by the tear gas. Even though we were not directly hit by the tear gas, we all had that burning sensation. For me, my windpipes were burning and the skin around my nose and mouth were burning also. A few minutes later, the pain began to fade away, and we made our way back to where we were. We met up with a couple others who got lost whilst we ran away, and we continued to rest on the ground.

At 3am, we were woken up again, and was told that the police were to use water cannon. We put on our raincoats and go ready. However nothing happened. By that time, everyone was exhausted. We slept on the ground until around 7am, when the sun started to shine bright and made us very hot.

At the end of Day 1, I felt even more determined and furious. We were so peaceful, and civilised before the tear gas (at least after we got there), why did they still attack us? I don't understand.

I will never ever forget this day.