In early 2013, University of Hong Kong legal scholar Benny Tai Yiu-ting proposed the "Occupy Central" plan. This would use pre-planned nonviolent civil disobedience to, on the one hand, elicit social concern for and deliberation on systems of universal suffrage suited to Hong Kong; and on the other hand, compel the government to implement the already-promised universal suffrage for Chief Executive and Legislative Council elections as soon as possible. Tai, along with Chan Kin-man (Chinese University of Hong Kong Professor) and Reverend Chu Yiu-Ming (Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China Committee Member), became the initiators of the "Occupy Central" plan. On March 27, 2013, they published their "Occupy Central with Love and Peace" (OCLP) manifesto, making them leaders of the Occupy Central movement.

The manifesto declared that the OCLP movement had three fundamental convictions. First was that Hong Kong's electoral system has to satisfy international standards; second was that Hong Kong's electoral system must be decided through a democratic process; and third was the conviction to use absolutely non-violent means to fight for realizing democracy and universal suffrage for Hong Kong. The goal was to use limited, nonviolent civil disobedience to strive for universal suffrage in the 2017 elections for Hong Kong Chief Executive and Legislative Council.