A discontinued M&M’s has become fuel for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement as residents collected 1,000 packets of the chocolate to donate to detained activists and protestors.

Prisoner welfare group Wall-fare on Tuesday afternoon posted a request online for packets of the 40-gram M&M’s chocolate, which was discontinued and replaced with a 37-gram version last month. The chocolates were needed because the Correctional Services Department had yet to update its list of approved snacks for detainees to include the new 37-gram package size.

By Wednesday afternoon, about 1,000 packets of the 40-gram M&M’s had been sent to Wall-fare’s office. Most donors brought the chocolates in person, with some donating entire cartons.

The M&M’s would be sent to about 160 pro-democracy politicians, activists and protesters currently held in detention facilities, said Shiu Ka-chun, Wall-fare’s founder and a former legislator.

M&M’s manufacturer Mars on Tuesday said it had sent details and photos of its new packaging to the Correctional Services Department to help it update its approved snacks list. The department said it would make adjustments accordingly but did not give a specific timeframe.

The wife of activist Roy Tam said a stranger gave her 10 packets of the approved 40-gram M&M’s when she found out she was on her way to visit her husband. Tam is among dozens of democratic figures now in custody on subversion charges for his participation in an unofficial primary election.

Friends and family have continued to visit those being held in detention facilities. Lester Shum, who has also been charged with subversion, had been writing, reading and exercising while in custody, his wife said.

Another detainee, Joshua Wong, had recently finished reading former United States President Barack Obama’s memoir, “A Promised Land,” Wong’s colleagues said on Facebook. The book reminded Wong to keep his passion and other cherished values even during difficult times, they added.

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