Hong Kong Police Ban Mass Weekend Protest March, Citing Safety

(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong police said they banned a Saturday protest by the organizer of previous historic mass marches, citing public safety concerns, a move that could anger demonstrators ahead of a planned 13th straight weekend of pro-democracy rallies.Police said approving the Civil Human Rights Front’s march was too risky as some people might use it to “carry out large scale destruction and disrupt public order,” Kwok Pak-chung, the force’s regional commander for Hong Kong Island, said at a Thursday briefing. The South China Morning Post first reported the ban.“Based on our intelligence, we believe certain protesters will commit acts of violence during the gathering,” Kwok said. “There’s a high chance that certain violent protesters will hijack this event.” He added that officials “have made a decision that we didn’t like to make.”Bonnie Leung, CHRF’s vice-convener, told Bloomberg News earlier in the day that the group was planning to appeal. Some previous rallies have been approved at the last minute after negotiations with police.The ban could trigger further outcry as the rally was planned for the fifth anniversary of China’s introduction of an electoral reform package that would have restricted democratic freedoms and was later rejected by Hong Kong. It could also fuel turnout at a two-day general strike called to begin Monday if the government doesn’t concede to protesters’ major demands by Saturday, the SCMP said.Timeline: How Months of Protests Have Unfolded in Hong KongThe march had been planned to start at centrally located Chater Garden and continue on to China’s liaison office in the city, where Hong Kong’s police and Beijing have drawn their sharpest line after a previous demonstration saw protesters deface the national emblem. Hong Kong’s former leader Leung Chun-ying is promoting a website offering crowd-funded cash bounties to identify protesters who have perpetrated vandalism, including HK$1 million ($127,000) for the person who splashed black paint on the emblem.The CHRF has organized three record-breaking peaceful marches over weeks of protests, including the June 9 rally against legislation easing extraditions to China that sparked what’s morphed into a broader movement against Beijing’s tightening grip over the city. The group said each march brought more than 1 million people onto the streets, while police estimates are lower, in the hundreds of thousands.Its latest march would come after a weekend that began with the formation of a peaceful human chain across the city and culminated two days later with police firing a weapon and using water cannons for the first time. Police said 86 people were arrested over the weekend for alleged offenses including unlawful assembly, possession of weapons and assaulting officers.CHRF convener Jimmy Sham said separately Thursday that he had been attacked by two armed masked men inside a restaurant in the city’s Kowloon, but that he hadn’t been hurt because his friend shielded him. Sham said he would head to the police station in Tsim Sha Tsui to give a statement.(Updates throughout with police confirmation.)To contact the reporters on this story: Sheryl Tian Tong Lee in Hong Kong at slee1905@bloomberg.net;Fion Li in Hong Kong at fli59@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Karen Leigh, Jon HerskovitzFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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