Hong Kong protest leaders urge turnout for Sunday march, despite risk of arrest

HONG KONG: Protest leaders called on Hong Kong's citizens to join a Sunday (Oct 20) anti-government march in spite of the risk of arrest, after police banned the rally which is seen as a test of the protest movement's strength following months of unrest.

Police declared the march illegal on Friday, citing concerns over public safety, and a court on Saturday said the destination of the march – the main railway interchange with mainland China – could be attacked and vandalised.

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Protesters plan to march from Salisbury Garden in Tsim Sha Tsui to the West Kowloon terminus of the high-speed rail link.

Hardcore demonstrators have in recent weeks targeted mainland Chinese businesses, daubing them in graffiti and at times setting fires, while mainland Chinese living in Hong Kong have begun to express fears for their own safety.

"We urge the Hong Kong people to … assemble peacefully, march peacefully, in order to show the whole world we are still eager for the five demands," campaigner Leung Kwok-hung said on Saturday, vowing the demonstration would go ahead.

READ: Killer who sparked Hong Kong protests agrees to surrender to Taiwan

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The demands include universal suffrage, an independent inquiry into police action against protesters, amnesty for those charged, and an end to describing protesters as rioters.

In the past, thousands of people have defied police and staged mass rallies without permission, often peaceful at the start but becoming violent at night. Protesters have hurled bricks and petrol bombs at police, who have responded with baton charges and volleys of tear gas on city streets.

Hong Kong's leader, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, has rejected the demands and on Saturday backed the use of force by police against protesters, amid criticism of heavy-handed tactics.

READ: Hong Kong's leader backs police use of force as protesters plan 'illegal' march

More than 90 per cent of a 3,200-strong alumni at Hong Kong University on Saturday passed a motion calling for Lam's resignation, saying students had suffered "injuries from police brutality" while in custody.

Hong Kong has been relatively calm in the past two weeks after violent protests ignited by the introduction of colonial-era emergency laws.

A prayer sit-in was scheduled downtown on Saturday evening, while demonstrations on Friday were calm, with protesters forming a human chain along the metro network and many donning masks in defiance of a ban on covering faces at public rallies.

BRACING FOR VIOLENCE

Protesters are concerned that Beijing is eroding freedoms granted when Britain handed the city back to China in 1997.

China denies the accusation and has blamed foreign nations such as the United States and Britain for inciting the unrest.

The crisis in the Chinese-ruled city is the worst since the handover and poses the biggest popular challenge to China's President Xi Jinping since he took power.

READ: Hong Kong says not trying to stop protests, just violence

The unrest was sparked by a now withdrawn Bill which would have Read More – Source