Marching Into Kowloon

Organizers were expecting 2,000 people -- 230,000 showed up this afternoon

This afternoon some 230,000 people flooded Salisbury Road in Tsim Sha Tsui to march all the way to the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station in the hopes of explaining to the mainlanders shopping in the area what local residents are fighting for.

The march was supposed to start at 4pm, but the authorities let them go at 3.30pm because there were too many people. They marched down Nathan Road and were orderly, "peaceful and graceful", as organizer and localist Ventus Lau Wing-hong had hoped.

Ventus Lau hoped the march would be "peaceful and graceful"

"I believe the residents who came out today want to tell the government that they are united and won't be split," he said.

In the march, the first one regarding the anti-extradition bill held in Kowloon, were people of all ages wearing mostly black, some holding yellow umbrellas.

By 4.15pm, the front of the procession had reached West Kowloon, and Lau encouraged people to leave the station. However, as of 10pm there is a second march going down Nathan Road, with protesters taking up all six lanes of the busy road, and on the way to Mongkok.

Some marchers spoke in Mandarin to bewildered mainland tourists in the area. They had no idea what was going on and some filmed the event or took pictures. Tourists interviewed by the media said they had just come to Hong Kong to do some shopping for luxury items and said everyone was entitled to their views, though they didn't know what this particular protest was for.

Marchers took over the entire six lanes of Nathan Road

"I think Hong Kong has freedom of speech. They should stand up to defend their vital interests. It's different from the mainland. We can't protest in mainland China," a man in his 30s said with a chuckle.

Are we allowed to know what happened? Or should we know? Know what? I have the right to love my country and they want to speak out. Don't make everything so politicized. Why not care more about other things? Such as adolescent problems, hunger problems, and environment issues. Why don't you care about these more important things," asked another man.

Sounds like the protest was an eye-opener

Also in the march the plight of Uighurs in Xinjiang were highlighted, where over 1 million of them are being held in detention camps and the BBC reported on Friday that children are being separated from their parents.

One marcher had a sign of Ilham Tohti, on the Uighur issue

One marcher held up a sign with academic Ilham Tohti's picture with the words: "He criticized China's ethnic policy/ He promoted ethnic reconciliation/ He was accused of splitting the nation and sentenced to life in prison".

Meanwhile Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and her administration are trying to appeal to young people by posting messages on their blogs.

She, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, Secretary of Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, and Secretary of Labour and Welfare, Law Chi-kwong appealed to Hongkongers that the administration's governing style had changed and pledged to listen more to society.

But society isn't going to find their blogs -- blogs are pretty much a one-way street. How is that effective dialogue with kids who have moved onto encrypted instant messaging and effective hand signals?

The kids are way ahead of you, Carrie. Back to the drawing board...