Joshua Wong, leader of the student movement, delivers a speech as protesters block the main street to the financial district outside the government headquarters building in Hong Kong on Oct. 1, 2014. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

The protest movement here has no central leadership or single commanding figurehead. Yet some personalities have come to the fore, among them Joshua Wong, a diminutive 17-year-old with the aspect of a sullen teenager whose brief detention by police last week galvanized student protests across the city.

In the early hours of Thursday, Wong addressed massed crowds beneath an underpass in the Admiralty area of Hong Kong. He urged them to persevere.

Later, in an interview, he acknowledged how tired he was after days on the streets.

“Actually, a lot of us are tired. But the citizens now have the political awareness to come out and make the difference,” he said. “History chose this generation to fight for a better future — this generation, in this century. We have a responsibility.”

Wednesday was a holiday, and it was cast as a crucial test of the protesters’ resolve. For many here who have remained ambivalent about the Hong Kong demonstrations, the long day had brought into focus months — and even years — of debate about their government, Chinese rule and the future of Hong Kong. It all boiled down to this simple choice: to join the protests or not.

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The decision weighed heavily on some.

Timothy Huk, a 23-year-old student, said his parents urged him to stay away.

“There is a generational difference for many families in how we think about this,” he said. His parents lived through the era of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing. “We did not. They worry about what happens if we do this. We worry about what happens if we don’t.”

The protesters’ target is the Hong Kong government of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. On Wednesday, China’s National Day, the Hong Kong government went ahead with celebrations commemorating the Chinese Communist Party’s rise to power.

Clowns, jugglers and painters were enlisted to honor the day. There were bouncy castles and a showcase of achievements of the People’s Republic of China.

When a military helicopter flew over Bauhinia Square, trailing the red flag of the People’s Republic beneath it, hundreds of student protesters jeered the sight.

“China should look to us,” said Cynthia Cheung, a 35-year-old hospital worker on the square. “We should not look to them.”

View Graphic Hong Kong’s political fault line with Beijing

The holiday brought out huge crowds, as the organizers had hoped. But as Wednesday night turned into Thursday morning, the numbers grew smaller than on previous nights. That may have been because the threat of a crackdown seemed to recede. Some believe that a long fight lies ahead and that there’ll be time enough to return to the barricades.

“This movement will not end,” said Serena Lee, 22, who has taken leave from a job at a bank to join the sit-ins and help distribute food. “We should treat it as a long war.”

At the Admiralty protest site, the whir of generators competed with the chants of demonstrators. Convoys of trucks ferried in supplies of food, water, medical provisions and rain gear; the trucks entered with a chorus of honking matched by the applause of appreciative protesters.

Still, a movement needs political sustenance as well, and there are fears that as the protests drag on without much government interference, many involved may drift back to their daily lives.

Alta Lau, a 25-year-old fitness instructor, was napping on a plastic swimming pool toy. This was his third night in a row sleeping outside in Admiralty.

“We are here for the revolution,” he said, gesturing to others sitting around him. “But I hope we don’t have to keep at this very much longer.”