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Tens of thousands of Hong Kong protesters defied heavy rain to march for an 11th straight weekend, as more moderate leaders sought to reset the pro-democracy movement after violent scenes at the airport last week threatened to sap support among the broader public.
While neither organizers nor police provided crowd estimates, it appeared to be the largest demonstration since at least 1 July, when as many as 500,000 people hit the streets. A sea of umbrellas filled Victoria Park in Causeway Bay before the group streamed out and marched toward Central, shutting down major boulevards. The protesters stayed largely peaceful, contrasting with the increased violence of the past few weekends that saw mob attacks, brick-throwing, tear gas and rubber bullets.
Tensions peaked during a mass sit-in that shut down the international airport on 12-13 August, when demonstrators beat and detained two mainland Chinese men they suspected of infiltrating the movement. “There’s a consensus that everyone will be restrained,” Wong Yik-mo, vice convener of rally organizer the Civil Human Rights Front, said in an interview at the beginning of the event. “When we make mistakes, we do admit it. We apologize. We promise to do better next time, which is exactly contrary to our government.”
What initially started as a fight against a bill that would’ve allowed extraditions to China has morphed into a broader battle to secure democratic freedoms promised to Hong Kong for 50 years after Britain handed over the territory in 1997. So far China has firmly supported the city’s leader, Carrie Lam, and refused to agree to more demands after the bill was shelved in June. Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan warned Sunday of an “economic typhoon” due to the unrest and the US-China trade war. The financial hub last week slashed its 2019 growth forecast to as little as zero, down from a previous range of 2% to 3%, prompting the government to unveil a $2.4 billion spending package.
“Destruction is easy and construction is difficult,” Hong Kong chief secretary for administration Matthew Cheung said separately in a blog post on Sunday. The situation must “return to reason” before the government takes steps to meet the protesters’ goal of securing a better future, he said.
China, meanwhile, has taken a harder stance. On Saturday You Wenze, spokesman for China’s National People’s Congress Foreign Affairs Committee, called for all protesters who broke the law to be punished. You’s committee is a panel of China’s legislature that crafted the Basic Law of Hong Kong—its mini constitution. A pro-China rally later on Saturday in central attracted 108,000 people, according to police. Organizers put the crowd size at 476,000.
As the rains came down on Sunday, pro-democracy protesters chanted “Free Hong Kong,” “Democracy Now,” and “Fight for Freedom.” One leader also chanted “No Riot,” signaling a desire to counter China’s narrative that the protesters are violent radicals influenced by the U.S.
Many of the protesters on Sunday expressed a mixture of determination and hopelessness. They viewed this as one of the last chances for Hong Kong to secure the ability to vote in their own leaders and protect other democratic values squeezed since Chinese President Xi Jinping took control of the Communist Party.
“The most important thing now is to get democracy,” said Tan Shu Huay, 73, a retiree. “As long as we’re not at the 50-year mark of one country, two systems, Hong Kongers are racing against time to fight for and preserve our freedoms even after 2047.”
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