It almost felt like magic. A few people standing on the street were joined by a few more; people lining the footpath of one block connected to those on the next block. And suddenly, there they all were. Hand in hand, chanting slogans and singing songs. On 23 August, the 30th anniversary of the Baltic Way – a human chain linking the capitals of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to demand the Baltic republics’ independence from the Soviet Union – more than 200,000 people came out on to the streets of Hong Kong to form the “Hong Kong Way”. From the crowded streets of Wan Chai on Hong Kong island, to the famous waterfront of Tsim Sha Tsui, to the suburbs of the New Territories, to the peak of Lion Rock, people linked hands in a continuous human chain that some said measured 60km in total.

This was just the latest action in Hong Kong’s ongoing anti-government protest movement calling for democratic reforms. As a protest action, it was incredibly effective: entirely peaceful, a striking visual spectacle, and a very physical manifestation of the broad support for the movement from across the community. People of all ages and from all walks of life, families with young children, the elderly – all joined the chain and put paid to any suggestion that these ongoing protests were just a few hot-headed young student agitators. But perhaps most importantly, the Hong Kong Way created a moment of enchantment.

Beijing’s game plan for stifling the Hong Kong protests is now clear | Sebastian Veg Read more

It was a sharp contrast to the scenes of the weekend that followed: violent clashes between protesters and police on two consecutive days, which culminated in police deploying water cannon for the first time on Hong Kong’s streets and one officer firing a warning shot from his service revolver to fend off an angry mob police said threatened their lives. As the city continues to reel from months of protests, moments of enchantment such as Friday night’s Hong Kong Way offer a reprieve from the escalating cycle of violence and rays of hope for the protest movement.

The feeling of “enchantment”, according to political theorist Jane Bennett of Johns Hopkins University, is something that stops you in your tracks, leaving you transfixed and spellbound – a suspension of time and movement. Places or moments of enchantment can inspire a sense of wonder or awe, even fill us with overwhelming feelings of generosity and love for the world. But enchantment can also serve a political purpose.

Play Video 1:04 Hong Kong protesters form 30-mile human chain across city – video

Today’s Hong Kong feels overwhelmed by the forces of disenchantment. The ongoing protests have drawn upon a deep-seated malaise, with a population that feels they are stuck with a leader they didn’t choose, running a government that doesn’t listen to them, in a city whose housing they cannot afford and with wages and an economy that are going nowhere. Many of those who can leave are actively planning to do so. Others appear to be caught in a despair that has driven them out on to the streets in the increasingly desperate protests.

As Bennett argues, it is hard to love a disenchanted city. Sites or moments of enchantment, such as the Hong Kong Way, offer a solution to Hong Kong’s political and social ennui, helping to lift the fog of cynicism and disenchantment, and encouraging hope and engagement in civic life.

The government seems to fail to understand that this battle will not be won in dollars and cents or through crude force

Hong Kong’s activists have long had an ability to capture this sense of enchantment: sites such as the colourful Lennon walls, which have blossomed across the pedestrian underpasses and footbridges of the city in recent months, or the vibrant tent city of 2014’s Umbrella Movement; moments such as the annual 4 June candlelit vigils held to commemorate Tiananmen Square, through to the solemn lawyers’ silent marches, a deeply moving expression of a legal profession in mourning for the city’s rule of law.

In response, Beijing and the Hong Kong government have tried to exhort the population to “Love Hong Kong” by deploying crude propaganda and economic bribes, such as financial secretary Paul Chan’s “mini-budget” of recent weeks which purported to relieve the economic stress of the protests by offering residents the equivalent of a few hundred pounds’ worth of subsidies.

The government seems to fail to understand that this is not a battle that will be won in dollars and cents or through crude force. It needs to enchant the people if it wants to compete.

Activists around the world may also wish to take note: in the battle against governments for hearts and minds, enchantment may be their most powerful weapon.

• Antony Dapiran is a Hong Kong-based writer and lawyer