Tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents have jammed the city’s streets in a march protesting the government’s handling of a proposed extradition bill.
The crowds, walking slowly and shouting “withdraw” and “resign”, spilled into the streets from Victoria Park and began marching towards the Central district where the government headquarters is located.
The demonstrators carried banners demanding that chief executive Carrie Lam resign and drop the legislation completely instead of just suspending it as she announced on Saturday.
The march looks likely to match in scale one a week earlier that brought as many as a million out to express their concern over the former British colony’s relations with mainland China.
Farther down the parade route, mourners lined up to pay their respects at a makeshift memorial for a man who fell to his death on Saturday after hanging a protest banner that read in part, “Make Love, No Shoot” and “No Extradition to China”.
The man slipped from the grasp of rescuers after clinging for a time to scaffolding outside a shopping centre. He missed a big cushion set up to capture him, and was declared dead at a nearby hospital.
Pro-democracy activists are calling for a general strike on Monday despite Ms Lam’s decision to suspend work on the legislation. Some labour unions, teachers associations and other groups are planning boycotts of work and classes.
“We encourage all the public to carry on the campaign,” said Bonny Leung and other leaders of the pro-democracy Civil Human Rights Front.
Many opponents of the extradition legislation are urging Ms Lam to step down and want her to drop the legislation, which many fear would undermine freedoms enjoyed by this former British colony but not elsewhere in China.
The communist government in Beijing issued multiple statements backing Ms Lam’s decision, which she announced in a news conference on Saturday.`