【明報專訊】Religious figures

Cardinal Joseph Zen (香港教區榮休主教陳日君樞機) encourages people to speak out for justice. He has said the church wants discussions of constitutional reform, but when discussions produce no results, it may be a way out to occupy Central.

The Reverend Kwok Nai-wang (退休牧師郭乃弘), who has participated in social movements since the 1980s, supports Occupy Central. He believes a Christian's mission does not end when he joins the church and the most important mission is to uphold justice.

Pro-democracy camp

Many pan-democratic moderates and their staunch supporters have been fighting for democracy for three decades. They think that Occupy Central is the only way to realise their dream of democracy, and that they need to express their resentment rather than silently swallow their disappointment if genuine universal suffrage is not introduced.

Students

Scholarism (學民思潮), a student- led activist group, and the Hong Kong Federation of Students (學聯) have warned that they would not rule out civil disobedience (公民抗命) if the government rejects their proposal to allow the public to nominate candidates for the 2017 CE election.

The Government

A spokesperson for the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau (政制及內地事務局) has said the government respects the right citizens have to express their views in a peaceful manner but hopes participants will abide by the law.

Silent Majority (幫港出聲)

The group, which was formed in 2013, thinks the occupation of Central would disrupt peace in Hong Kong. Veteran journalist Robert Chow (資深傳媒人周融, left), one of its founders, has said the group aims at maintaining stability in Hong Kong. He is worried that people may be injured or killed if troops are called out to quell the movement. Another founder of it has said civil disobedience (公民抗命) movements must not harm others' interests.

Mainland

Vice President Li Yuanchao (國家副主席李源潮, left) has said the occupation of Central is against the Basic law and will harm the stability of Hong Kong and impede (妨礙) the introduction of universal suffrage. He is worried that the occupation of Central may hurt the business environment in Hong Kong, resulting in a chain reaction that may badly affect employees and the grass roots.

It is suggested in the 2013 China Urban Competitiveness Report (Hong Kong) prepared by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (中國社會科學院) that the occupation of Central may hurt Hong Kong's competitiveness.