Massive march defies police ban
Estimated 1.7 million protesters fill streets in Hong Kong,
HONG KONG— A sea of Hong Kong protesters marched through the dense city centre in the pouring rain Sunday, defying a police ban, in a vivid display of the movement’s continuing strength after more than two months of demonstrations, days of ugly violence and increasingly vehement warnings from the Chinese government.
People began assembling in the early afternoon in Victoria Park, the starting point of huge peaceful marches in June that were joined by hundreds of thousands of protesters. The police approved the Sunday rally, but objected to plans to march to the Central district, citing clashes that had occurred after previous events. But protesters marched anyway.
By midafternoon, the park had filled with tens of thousands of people, and the demonstrators began to spill into nearby roads. Protesters holding signs j ammed a multi-lane main road in the Causeway Bay shopping district, stopping traffic and forcing trams to slow to a crawl. The crowd inched toward the park amid heavy rain, shouting, “People of Hong Kong, keep fighting.”
Organizers estimated at least 1.7 million people had turned out — nearly 1 in 4 of the total population of more than seven million — making it the secondlargest march of the movement, after a protest by nearly two million on June 16.
The Hong Kong police released a far lower crowd estimate, saying there were128,000 protesters in Victoria Park during the peak period.
But when the march reached the government headquarters in the Admiralty district, the line of people behind stretched more than three kilometres, with large crowds still waiting to leave the park.
“I came here for the future of Hong Kong and the next generation of Hong Kong. The government has not responded to our demands,” said Amy Bau, 41, a teacher. “I have come out to march many times, and I will keep coming out if the government continues to not answer us.”
Joyce Man, a 26-year-old clerk, said she had joined despite her worries about the military being called upon to quell protests.
“I still think my showing up is my responsibility,” she said. “The more people in the street today, the safer Hong Kong people are. There’s strength when people unite.”