A self-styled “popular uprising” was launched on Chinese soil this week but its organisers remain safely beyond the reach of Beijing's security apparatus.

Beijing could only fume as five Hong Kong legislators resigned their seats on Tuesday to contest by-elections they say will constitute a referendum on faster democratic development in the territory. The Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, responsible for central government policies towards the two former European colonies, last week criticised the “so-called referendum” as a “blatant challenge”.

In any other Chinese city the ringleaders of such an affront would risk detention, arrest and imprisonment. In Hong Kong, where civil freedoms are protected under a formula known as “one country, two systems”, the politicians' hardest task will be to overcome popular ennui in a city that is prosperous and free but not democratic.