Hong Kong braces for weekend of marches as pro-establishment camp to support police at Tamar Park ahead of Sunday’s massive protest against the government

‘Safeguard Hong Kong’ rally will call for residents to give embattled leader Carrie Lam more time to recover from political crisis
Police ask small community group organising separate march in Hung Hom 32 questions on planning and security arrangements

Hong Kong extradition bill

Tony Cheung,Alvin LumandKimmy Chung

Published: 9:30pm, 18 Jul 2019

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Hong Kong is bracing for another weekend of protests with the pro-Beijing camp set to stage its second major rally on Saturday to mobilise middle-of-the-road residents to condemn violence and support police, a day before yet another massive march against the city’s embattled government.

Organisers of the pro-establishment “Safeguard Hong Kong” rally steered clear of lending unequivocal support to the city’s beleaguered leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, only asking people to “give her more time” to recover from the worst political crisis facing Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is braced for another massive march on Sunday. Photo: Dickson Lee

“I think she’s suffered quite a lot, and she’s been rethinking the way forward,” said lawyer Kennedy Wong Ying-ho, co-organiser of the rally and a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the nation’s top advisory body.

The rally was announced as police, in a rare move, asked a small community group organising a separate march against mainland Chinese tourists in Hung Hom next Saturday to answer 32 questions on their planning and security arrangements for “detailed analysis”, after earlier protests in Sha Tin and Sheung Shui descended into violence between protesters and officers.

The anti-government protests on Sunday and next week are among a series of actions in the pipeline, including a social workers’ silent march from Wan Chai to the Chief Executive’s Office in Admiralty on Sunday, and demonstrations in Mong Kok, Western district and Tseung Kwan O on the coming weekends.

Protesters have called for Lam to fully withdraw the now-suspended extradition bill – which she had said was already “dead” – that would have allowed the transfer of fugitives to mainland China among other jurisdictions.

On Thursday, pro-democracy lawmaker Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung withdrew a short-lived private member’s bill to seek justice in the murder case that triggered the government’s legislation.

Netizens said his proposal, submitted last month, would revive the worst nightmare of the bill’s opponents: bringing down the legal firewall between mainland China and Hong Kong.

The issue of violence erupting after protests took centre stage again on Thursday, as organisers pledged to maintain peace and order during their marches.

Lawmaker Fernando Cheung submitted a bill last month but withdrew it again on Thursday. Photo: Dickson Lee

University of Hong Kong president Zhang Xiang had to address the issue as well, at a forum he held with hundreds of students, alumni and staff.

Zhang had angered scores of them when he issued a statement on July 3 condemning the violence sparked during the storming of the legislature two days earlier, as protesters felt he was unfairly singling them out and not police.

Zhang’s clarification last week that he was decrying violence committed “by any party” during the protests failed to pacify his young critics, who have accused police of using excessive force.

In a press conference on Thursday, pro-establishment politicians also denounced violence in the city.

They said their rally at Tamar Park, near the city’s legislative and administrative centre, was to underscore and protect the city’s stability.

Starry Lee Wai-king, chairwoman of the city’s largest pro-Beijing group, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, urged people to distance themselves from violent protests.

“We respect peaceful assembly and we resolutely oppose violence and extremism, because Hong Kong will eventually suffer from that,” Lee said.

Rally organiser Wong said the livelihoods of ordinary Hongkongers had been affected by protests in different districts.

“We appreciate the passion of young people, but every society has its core values, and for Hong Kong, that’s rule of law,” he said.

The pro-Beijing rally did not include a call to support Lam as a key message of their rally.

Chaos erupted as tens of thousands of government supporters gathered in the same park on June 30 to show solidarity with the city’s embattled police force.

There were multiple confrontations as rally goers got into physical scuffles with small groups of extradition bill protesters.

Pro-police demonstrators targeted journalists on multiple occasions, verbally abusing and threatening two female reporters from the Post, prompting four media organisations to issue statements condemning the aggression.

Wong said on Thursday that while they would arrange about 1,000 marshals to maintain order at the rally, he could not guarantee there would be no chaos.

“Tamar Park is an open space, everyone can go there,” he said.

Additional reporting by Kimmy Chung and Sum Lok-kei

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Rival rallies planned for weekend

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