Hong Kong's protesters come from all walks of life and have no single leader but these are some of the key players who have set the tone and direction of their campaign, and those they are trying to persuade.
Benny Tai and Occupy Central
Together with his co-founders, academic Chan Kin-man and Baptist minister Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, Benny Tai has spearheaded the Occupy Central protest movement which helped plant the seed of a mass civil disobedience campaign in the minds of Hong Kong residents. The 50-year-old law professor at the University of Hong Kong, who has been the subject of numerous death threats for his activism, says the scale of the protests have been "beyond what I imagined". "They have been fearless against pepper spray and tear-gas; their commitment to the spirit of non-violence is beyond what I could have imagined," he told Foreign Policy. "Hong Kongers have [made] me very proud."
Joshua Wong and Scholarism
Joshua Wong only turns 18 this month but the wiry, bespectacled teenager has become a fixture in Hong Kong politics. After founding student group Scholarism three years ago, he sensationally forced the government to back down from plans to introduce a Beijing-endorsed patriotic "national education" programme. In doing so, he mobilised 120,000 students to occupy the government's headquarters, many of who are involved in the current pro-democracy protests. A powerfully eloquent speaker beyond his years, he has invigorated a whole generation of politically aware students.
Alex Chow Yong-kang and the Hong Kong Federation of Students
Alex Chow Yong-kang, 24, is the general secretary of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, a student body closely aligned with Scholarism. Growing impatient at the inaction of Occupy Central, he masterminded an unofficial "trial run" in July. The sit-in on a public road resulted in more than 500 arrests and complaints of rough police treatment. Mr Chow, himself, was arrested along with colleague Lester Shum and Scholarism's Joshua Wong in an attempted student occupation of the government headquarters which precipitated this week's events.
Leung Chun-ying, Hong Kong chief executive
Widely seen within Hong Kong as being too close to the Chinese central government, Leung Chun-ying courted controversy within moments of being sworn in as chief executive in July 2012 by choosing to deliver his inauguration speech in Mandarin, China's official language, instead of Cantonese, the far more widely spoken dialect in Hong Kong. His popularity has slid ever since and the self-made multi-millionaire with a background in real estate finds himself under the greatest pressure of his political career.