The last contingent of people participating in the June 16 march against the government’s controversial extradition bill had still not left Victoria Park—the location where the march has started from more than two hours earlier— Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK reported at 5 p.m. local time.
Cardinal Joseph Zen, the former archbishop of Hong Kong, told the Hong Kong bureau of the Epoch Times, “There is hope. There is hope,” after seeing the record numbers of people who had come out to ask Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam to withdraw the extradition bill—not just suspend it.
The June 16 march is expected to go on into the evening as people continue to pouring into the city center to protest Lam’s leadership on the controversial bill that could see innocent people extradited to mainland China to for “crimes” alleged by the widely criticized Chinese Communist Party.
People at Times Square in Hong Kong try to join the march on June 16, 2019. One person held a slogan that said “Students have not rioted. Protect the next generation. Entire city against evil law.” (Yu Gang/The Epoch Times)The slogans “Carrie Lam step down,” “No riot, only depotism,” and “We have not rioted. Release injured students” were also heard as hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers peacefully marched side by side through the city streets.
Hong Kong media RTHK reported that local police were more lenient for this march, compared to on June 9, as they were allowing people to join the march from along the route.
Last Sunday, the police demanded that people not cut in line.
Local media reported that the “Withdraw Evil Extradition Bill” march had to start ahead of schedule at 2:45 p.m. local time because of the sheer volume of people that had gathered at Victoria Park.
Singers Denise Ho and Anthony Wong Yiu Ming were among those spotted at the front of the protest.
Protesters, were seen flooding into Victoria Park all afternoon.
Many protesters also stopped by Pacific Place Mall where earlier, a 35-year-old man wearing a yellow raincoat, dubbed “Raincoat boy,” fell off the scaffolding from which he had unfurled a banner calling for the complete withdrawal of the extradition bill and for Lam to step down.
From The Epoch Times
