Back to the Sunday March

A fraction of the marchers who came out this afternoon in Wan Chai

This afternoon Hongkongers came out in droves to Victoria Park for a police-sanctioned march from Causeway Bay to Central. It seemed like a lot of people showed up, but organizers say it was 800,000.

To many this was disappointing, as they hoped a big number would make the Hong Kong government to take notice and finally get down from its ivory tower and engage with the protesters to resolve the now six-month long political crisis.

Nevertheless 800,000 is still an impressive number, but will Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor do anything?

A gaggle of Pepe the Frogs and LIHKG pigs hanging out

I had friends marching separately who were stuck in Causeway Bay for hours, unable to move. Meanwhile waiting for the marchers in Central were the police, armed with riot gear and rifles.

Oh by the way did you hear the police arrested 11 people and seized weapons, including a semi-automatic pistol with five ammunition magazines, three of which were loaded, along with three daggers, knives and 105 bullets.

The police claimed "radicals" planned to use the arms to "create chaos" during the anti-government march in the afternoon.

Senior superintendent Steve Li Kwai-wah said: "Intelligence showed that the radical group had taken part in an unlawful assembly on October 20, when they used a lot of petrol bombs to attack Mongkok Police Station.

"Their plan is to use the gun to create chaos during the march later today, including shooting at our officers or turning the blame on officers themselves by hurting the innocent passers-by," he said.

Li said the police had thwarted a crisis, but added the discovery of the weapon was evidence that people should stay alert during the march and rally, organized by the Civil Human Rights Front.

For the most part the protest march was peaceful

On Twitter, people criticized the timing of the news of the arrests and seizure of the weapons just before the march in a bid to scare people from turning up at 3pm in Victoria Park.

However that did not deter them at all and they came out, determined to show the government that they still want all five demands met even though only one, the extradition bill has been withdrawn.

Getting a lot of attention were people wearing large headgear featuring Pepe the frog and pigs from LIHKG. Everyone wanted to take pictures with them.

One marcher wore black, a yellow helmet and gloves and crawled on the ground, apparently to remember those protesters who had to crawl through the sewers at Hong Kong Polytechnic University to escape.

There was also a young boy who played Glory to Hong Kong on his violin over and over. Did he know he'd have to play it so many times?

Musical performance at Hong Kong protest today #GlorytoHK pic.twitter.com/n3ohNlZvp1

— Missy Lao (@missy_lao) December 8, 2019

 

By the time marchers reached Central near the Landmark,  organizers CHRF persuaded people to leave by bus, MTR, or ferry to avoid any confrontations with the police.

There were a few black-clad protesters armed with umbrellas who had a standoff with police near the Hang Seng Bank headquarters, but they decided in the end not to push their luck and slowly retreated. However, riot police seemed trigger happy using pepper spray at the bottom of D'Aguilar Street in Central to disperse people this evening.

A petrol bomb was thrown at the Court of Final Appeal

And the judicial system seems to have been the target of other protesters who threw a petrol bomb at the Court of Final Appeal and High Court. The government has already issued a statement condemning the attacks on Rule of Law.

Legal sector lawmaker Dennis Kwok Wing-hang expressed regret and whatever the motive, one should not commit such acts. But he also blamed the government as the "Number one culprit" by forcing the courts to rule on something essentially political.

So it continues, and while people have voted with their feet again since August, one wonders what the government will do next!