Even a minority cause like Occupy Central can do harm

I must say that it's really something for 66,000 people to brave the rain to walk all the way from Causeway Bay to Central. It is a sign of a lack of confidence that the organisers felt they had to grossly inflate the figure to 430,000. Or perhaps they felt a need to prove themselves to someone not present at the scene.

Inflating the figure has become part of the game and is to be expected, but by such a big factor is too much for most of us to swallow. Overnight, it became the biggest joke in town on Facebook.

But don't underestimate these 66,000 angry protesters. Should they unite under one cause and be bent on bringing down the government, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying will be in big trouble. In fact, this is the threat projected by the Occupy Central campaign, organised by Benny Tai Yiu-ting, who believes a much smaller group, of 10,000, will be sufficient to serve as a "weapon of mass destruction".

The truth is that it will not be. People with a myriad of causes marched in the rally, which was hijacked by the organisers as the united battle for what they call "true universal suffrage" and the downfall of Leung.

From what I gathered from my friends who mingled with the crowd, the response was not enthusiastic when these two slogans were chanted. Protesters were obviously more concerned about their own smaller agendas, such as gay rights and "no incinerator in my backyard". Far from being a lethal weapon, the rally was more like a bundle of fireworks. If I were C.Y., I would have been very relieved and would have retired early on the evening of July 1 after monitoring the progress of the show.

So, they want a revolution. To be realistic, it will only take place, especially in a Chinese society, when there is absolutely no other way out. Then the rage will be all-consuming.