Protest wave surges
Hong Kong marchers plead with Chinese tourists for help
HONG KONG — Another massive march in Hong Kong, this time held in an enclave frequented by Chinese tourists and connected by a highspeed railway to the mainland, turned chaotic on Sunday night after a smaller group of protesters occupied a major shopping road and were forcibly cleared by police.
The protesters hoped to take their grievances against Beijing directly to its people and tried to engage with visitors from the mainland. Chanting “Free Hong Kong,” the crowd marched in a tourist-heavy, mall-dotted neighborhood, toward a railway terminus that connects the semi-autonomous territory to mainland China.
Sunday’s march marked a new escalation, the first time demonstrators have taken their message so close to the mainland’s territory and people.
Organizers estimated the turnout at 230,000 people. Police put the crowd size at its peak at around 56,000.
The crowd was larger than expected, pushing groups of protesters into roads not sanctioned for the march. By night, a small crowd had occupied streets in the area in defiance of riot police — prompting officers to tackle and beat some with batons. At least three were arrested, according to local press.
The scenes marked the latest in an escalating crisis that has gripped Hong Kong for more than a month.
The protesters marched to the West Kowloon station, which opened in September and is subject to Chinese laws.
Along their route, volunteers handed out posters advertising the upheaval in the city over the past weeks, sparked by a now-suspended bill that would allow extraditions to the mainland. They designed leaflets in the simplified Chinese characters, widely used in the mainland and shouted the purpose of their march over loudspeakers in Mandarin, China’s official language, rather than the Cantonese of Hong Kong.
“Our idea is to spread messages to travelers and tourists, especially those from the mainland,” said Yoanna, a 17-year-old student who declined to give her last name for fear of retribution.
Sustained protests have rocked the territory for more than a month. Chief Executive Carrie Lam paused the extradition proposal after the first week of marches but has declined to fully withdraw it or to step down, as protesters demand.
The marches have since ballooned to include other demands, such as the release of jailed protesters and an investigation into police actions.
In the clearest demonstration yet against Beijing’s authority and the legitimacy of the Hong Kong government, a group of protesters stormed and briefly occupied the Hong Kong legislature on Monday, the 22nd anniversary of the territory’s handover from the British to China.
Protesters sang the Chinese national anthem, coaxing mainland tourists to join in. Others shouted “no rioters, only tyranny” at passersby — a reference to both the Hong Kong government and mainland authorities labeling the occupation of the legislature as a violent, extreme act.
Those opposed to the extradition bill believe it will end a firewall separating Hong Kong’s legal system from the Chinese one, and fear the Chinese Communist Party will use the provisions to target people for political reasons.
Chinese tourists were either muted or critical in response to the latest protest.