 |
| Police made a number of arrests in Central, where protesters spread through several streets |
Scores of people have taken to the streets in various parts
of Hong Kong today, Jun 9, to mark the first
year since an estimated one million people protested against the now-abandoned
extradition bill proposed by government.
The protests were held despite police warnings that the
gatherings were illegal as they were held without a permit, and violated social
distancing regulations.
 |
| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Earlier, the Philippine Consulate issued an advisory,
telling Filipinos to avoid places where protests are expected to be held. For
today, the areas identified were Wanchai, Central, Tai Koo, Kwai Chung, San Po
Kong, Kowloon Bay ,
Kwun Tong and other areas on Hong
Kong Island
The advisory said protests are also expected to be held on
Friday, Jun 12; Sunday, Jun 14; Tuesday, Jun 16; Friday, Jun 19; Saturday, Jun
20; and Sunday, Jun 21.
The biggest gathering today was the one that started in the
early evening in Chater
Garden
Police moved in with pepper balls and pepper spray after
raising the blue flag warning as protesters blocked Des Voeux Road Central,
bringing evening rush-hour traffic to a standstill. A number of people were
arrested, but figures were not immediately available.
The protesters also occupied Ice House Street Queen Victoria Street
Reports say officers also fired pepper balls to disperse
people who had set up an umbrella barricade at Queen Victoria Street
The police later said they seized umbrellas, paint thinner
and empty bottles from an overpass on the adjacent Jubilee Street.
Earlier at lunch time, protesters also gathered inside the
Landmark mall in Central and the APM shopping mall in Kwun Tong in
commemoration of the huge protest against what many Hongkongers felt was a
threat to their basic freedoms.
 |
| Lunchtime protest inside the Landmark in Central (RTHK photo) |
This time around, protesters held aloft banners advocating Hong Kong independence.
They turned on the torches in their mobile phones, chanted
slogans and held up the banners which read “never forget the heart when you
started, persist till the end.”
At the APM mall, protesters gathered on different floors and
sang protest songs that called for the “liberation of Hong
Kong .”
 |
| Protesters in the APM mall called for independence for Hong Kong (RTHK photo) |
Later in the evening, local television showed hundreds of
people also gathered in Mong Kok, where they faced off with police in full
battle gear.
Some of those who took part in the protests said they wanted
to show their outrage now as it could become impossible to do the same once Beijing implements the national security law it has
crafted for Hong Kong .
Others said it might be their last show of defiance since China
Protests were noticeably muted since China ’s National People’s Congress passed the
national security bill for Hong Kong last
week.
Despite this, another big protest is being planned for Jun
19, when the rule limiting public gatherings to no more than eight people is
expected to have been lifted.
Organizers said they decided to move by a week their plan to
commemorate another turning point in the protests.
This was on June 12 last year, when the legislative council
was forced to stop debating the extradition bill, after thousands of protesters
blocked all access roads leading to the central government offices.
