MILLION BROLLY RALLY
Vast Hong Kong demonstration defies Beijing ... and the rain
UP TO a million democracy protesters defied police to join an anti-China demonstration in Hong Kong yesterday – despite the teeming rain.
The authorities had banned the rally following 11 weeks of violent clashes. But families, students and residents young and old ignored the order and took to the streets armed with only umbrellas.
The protest remained peaceful after organisers called for calm in the face of provocation.
The sea of umbrellas harked back to the 2014 Umbrella Movement – a series of prodemocracy sit-in street protests in Hong Kong that stretched over almost two months.
Demonstrators in 2014 found that umbrellas were the best defence against tear gas and pepper spray used by police to quell their movement.
Yesterday’s rally came after protesters were criticised for clashes at the airport last week, which led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights.
Police have also been criticised for heavy-handed tactics, including the use of tear gas. A woman was blinded in one eye after being shot with a bean bag bullet – and many of the protesters wore eye patches as a show of support.
It was reported that two water cannon were moved to central Hong Kong in preparation for yesterday, but police remained largely out of sight.
Personnel carriers and other vehicles of the China’s paramilitary People’s Armed Police, as well as troops, had been seen assembling at a sports complex in Shenzhen – across the border from Hong Kong. But the demonstration passed largely without incident, apart from a few scuffles with pro-Beijing supporters in red T-shirts.
Protester Kiki Ma, a 28-yearold accountant, said peace was the ‘number one priority today’. She added: ‘We want to show we aren’t like the government.’
Protest organisers, the Civil Human Rights Front, claimed 1.7million attended the rally against the erosion of the freedoms promised in 1997 when China took over the British colony. The protests were sparked by proposed changes to the law on extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China. The protesters’ demands include scrapping the changes, universal suffrage and an inquiry into police brutality.
The demonstrators were given permission to gather at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay yesterday, which was packed by 3pm.
A march from the park was banned. But the order was ignored and demonstrators brought traffic to a standstill and forced the closure of two underground stations. Dressed in black, with some wearing gas masks and goggles, they chanted: ‘Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our times.’
The protests represent one of the biggest challenges for Chinese president Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012. Beijing has linked the demonstrations to ‘terrorism’ and describe protesters as ‘rioters’.
But activist Harley Ho, a 20year-old social work student, said: ‘We will stand here, we will take action until they respond to us. In the rain, our spirit becomes stronger.’
‘In the rain, our spirit becomes stronger’