Over the past two months, hardly a day has gone by when Hong Kong residents have not been exposed to protests and politics.

They are on the streets, on the front pages of newspapers and on 24-hour television channels that relay scenes of the tent cities outside the government’s headquarters, where “Occupy” protesters demanding the open election of the city’s leader, the chief executive, have been camping out since late September.

Still, the appetite for political drama doesn’t seem to have waned. Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents tuned in Wednesday to watch the first episode of “The Election,” a 15-part series on the new HKTV Internet television service depicting a political tussle that bears a remarkable resemblance to the current turmoil on the city’s streets.



“Hong Kong people deserve a vote in deciding who they want to be the chief executive,” declares a fictitious candidate for the job in his election manifesto.

“Hong Kong people should have the right to nominate the chief executive, too,” he adds.

That’s a call that might have been lifted from the protesters’ main grievance, over the Chinese government’s decision in August that only a small group of people loyal to Beijing will have the power to nominate candidates in the 2017 election for the city’s top office.

The candidate is then found dead in a car wreck. His wife, Yip Ching, a labor rights activist played by the Malaysian actress Angelica Lee, decides to take up the torch and run for chief executive in the 2022 election against a rival who has Beijing’s blessing and the backing of powerful business interests.

She also seeks to investigate her husband’s death, as evidence emerges that it might have been more than just an accident. New episodes of the series will be available each Saturday, both on demand and played on the live stream at different times of the day.

“The timing of the show is great and it really struck a chord with us,” said Anthony Cheong, a 29-year-old hotel manager who has been taking part in the protests in the commercial district of Causeway Bay since the first day of the Hong Kong movement. “Like our chief executive, we like to have choices of what TV to watch as well.”

As of Wednesday, HKTV’s mobile and set-top box applications had drawn more than a million downloads since they were made available two weeks ago, according to a company’s spokeswoman, Jessie Cheng. About 640,000 devices, including computers, phones and set-top boxes, tuned in to the channel on Wednesday. In a statement released Thursday, the company said the number of viewers exceeded its expectations.

By comparison, the leading free-to-air television broadcaster in Hong Kong, TVB, reaches more than 2.37 million homes.

In October last year, the Hong Kong government turned down HKTV’s application for a free-to-air television license, drawing hundreds of thousands of people to protest outside the government headquarters and on the plaza now known by the pro-democracy demonstrators as “Civic Square.” Days of protesting did not change the government’s decision. HKTV then decided to distribute its content through the Internet.

In another nod to Hong Kong’s continuing “Occupy” protests, “The Election” shows Ms. Yip leading a monthlong sit-in protest against an unyielding employer.

“Why do we have so much support from the people?” she asked a crowd of protesters on the verge of erupting into violence. “That’s because we have kept to three principles: Peaceful, rational and nonviolent.”

Those words have been part of the real-life protesters’ mantra since the start of their occupation of several areas in Hong Kong on Sept. 28.

But just hours before the series began streaming, a more militant band of protesters attempted to break into Hong Kong’s legislature, smashing glass doors and damaging the walls of the building. At least six people were arrested.

That outburst of violence highlighted the protesters’ rising frustration and differing visions of the movement as their street blockades enter a third month. More radical protesters have been trying to escalate the protest in hopes of pressuring the government to heed their demands, while others have insisted on a milder approach.

In either case, time does not appear to be on the protesters’ side, as popular support withers. In a University of Hong Kong opinion survey on Wednesday, about 80 percent of 507 respondents said the protesters should leave the streets. Meanwhile, bailiffs have begun carrying out court orders to remove the roadblocks. Anyone who tries to obstruct the process could be found guilty of “criminal contempt of court.”