HONG KONG — Antigovernment demonstrators are planning another march in Hong Kong on Sunday, the first major action since a small group of protesters broke into the city’s legislature last Monday in a dramatic escalation of recent tensions.
It is the latest in a series of protests that have roiled Hong Kong since the city’s leaders tried to push through a contentious bill that would allow extradition to mainland China. The protests, which organizers say have drawn up to two million people, have been mostly peaceful, apart from a few violent confrontations between police officers and demonstrators.
Tensions culminated last week when an offshoot group of young protesters smashed their way into a legislative building and ransacked the premises, as hundreds of thousands of people marched peacefully in a concurrent protest elsewhere in the city.
Though the extradition bill has been suspended, the protesters’ demands have broadened to include a call for more democratic reforms such as universal suffrage, in addition to a full withdrawal of the bill, an independent inquiry into police violence toward protesters and amnesty for the protesters.
[Here’s what to know about Hong Kong’s evolving protest movement.]
Hong Kong, a semiautonomous Chinese territory, has a separate political and judicial system and is governed based on a “one country, two systems” principle known. But in recent years, as Beijing has grown more autocratic and increased efforts to integrate Hong Kong with the mainland, many here have become alarmed about the erosion of the city’s once-robust protections for civic freedoms and rule of law.
While previous marches have been held in the downtown financial and business districts of Hong Kong Island, the march on Sunday is the first to take place in Kowloon, an area of Hong Kong that is attached to the Chinese mainland. It is being billed as an opportunity to engage with mainland Chinese in the hope of gaining their support.
The Hong Kong protests have been heavily censored in the mainland, where they are portrayed by government officials and the state news media as being organized by “foreign forces” and spearheaded by violent “extreme radicals.”
The march is scheduled to begin in the afternoon in Tsim Sha Tsui, a shopping area popular with mainland Chinese tourists, and end at the West Kowloon railway station, which is the terminus of a high-speed line to the Chinese city of Guangzhou.
The opening of the West Kowloon station last year has raised fears about growing mainland influence in Hong Kong. Mainland customs and immigration officials are stationed inside the railway terminus and parts of the station are subject to mainland jurisdiction, which has prompted some pro-democracy advocates and scholars to call it a “Trojan train.”
There are signs that law enforcement officials are bracing for a large turnout and possible clashes with mainland visitors. The police said they would shut down some roads, while all but one of the entrances and exits to the West Kowloon station were closed on Sunday. Sales for tickets departing from the station were also ended midday.
Timothy Chui, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, said that some mainland tour groups decided to avoid the Tsim Sha Tsui area on Sunday because of the planned march. In a statement, the association voiced concerns about the possible effect of the protests on tourism revenue.