Tens of thousands of black-clad Hong Kong protesters have once again flooded the streets of the Chinese territory, for the eleventh straight week of anti-government demonstrations.
While only a rally at Victoria Park was permitted to proceed, as police denied a permit for a 3.7-kilometre march to Hong Kong’s central business district, the rally quickly became a march as crowds spilled out into neighboring streets and moved west towards the original destination.
As tropical rain began to pour down, protesters remained undeterred and became a sea of colourful umbrellas, streaming through the neighborhood of Wan Chai. They marched to the beat of a stationary drummer, while a speaker stood on pedestal with a microphone, leading a chant of: “Carrie Lam, step down!”
Protests were originally sparked by a now-shelved extradition bill that would allow suspects to be extradited to mainland China for trial, but have broadened into a wider movement against Chinese interference in the semi-autonomous region.
When Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule from its previous British colonial overseer in 1997, a framework called ‘One Country Two Systems’ was established to protect the unique civil liberties and freedoms, unseen on the mainland.