Hong Kong, July 28 (AFP): Thousands of pro-democracy protesters defied a police ban and began marching through Hong Kong on Sunday, a day after riot police fired rubber bullets and tear gas in the latest violent confrontation to plunge the financial hub deeper into crisis.
Known as the Sheung Wan Protest, huge crowds gathered in the heart of the city’s commercial district on Sunday afternoon.
Police had given permission for a static protest in a park but banned a proposed march through the city.
Yet protesters soon spilled into the streets outside the park and began marching in spite of the ban, ratcheting up the likelihood of renewed clashes.
“I feel so conflicted, seeing young people sacrifice their future for Hong Kong,” a 22-year-old student protester called Marcus told AFP, breaking into tears.
This is the eighth straight weekend that protests have been held in the city.
Hundreds of protesters had earlier gathered at Chater Garden, with several waving United States and British flags. They had attempted to start a march to Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Park by chanting “start, start”.
Some held up banners saying “We rise as one, we fight as one” and “Stop violence”, while others chanted “Black police. Shameful”, as anger simmered over what many demonstrators see as an increasing cycle of violence against them.
Protesters also spilled onto the streets of central Hong Kong, with some headed towards Admiralty and popular shopping district Causeway Bay where they then erected barricades and took over a main thoroughfare as shops and malls shuttered.
Another group headed west towards the Liason Office – the department that represents China’s central government – which was guarded by lines of riot police.
Hong Kong authorities erected a wall of water-filled barricades and glued down bricks in the pavement. A clear plastic shield also covered a national emblem that had been defaced a week before.
Scores of riot police were stationed inside the building itself, while vehicles and tourist coaches full of other officers deployed in nearby streets.
Last Sunday, protesters had surrounded the building, known as the Liaison Office, vandalising signs to the anger of the Beijing government.
China’s state media described it as “blatant challenge to the central government” which would not be tolerated.
The latest march comes a day after a town near the border with mainland China descended into chaos, as police battled protesters holding another banned rally against suspected pro-government triad gangs who beat up democracy demonstrators there last weekend.
