Reduced turnout seen at annual July 1 pro-democracy rally, while many defy police order to not join procession midway
Thousands of Hongkongers took to the streets under the scorching sun on Sunday to express their discontent over democratic stagnation as the city marked the 21st anniversary of its handover to China.
The Civil Human Rights Front, the organiser of the annual July 1 pro-democracy march, claimed more than 50,000 had joined – less than last year’s 60,000 and hitting a three-year low – while the police put the turnout at 9,800, down from last year’s estimate of 14,500 and its lowest level since 2003.
Professor Paul Yip Siu-fai of the University of Hong Kong, who sent a team of researchers to do the headcount, put the figure at about 14,170, with about 45 per cent of people joining midway. His team estimated 16,000 last year.
“No matter the turnout, we are satisfied… there is value in continuing [the march],” the Front’s convenor Sammy Ip Chi-hin said after the rally.
He added it was difficult to give an exact turnout this year as a lot of people had joined midway, after the police forbade the organisers from using the soccer pitches of Victoria Park as their starting point and despite marchers being warned by police that they might face legal consequences if they joined the procession after it had started.
Many chanted the theme of this year’s march – “End one-party dictatorship, reject the fall of Hong Kong” – as they went from Causeway Bay to government headquarters in Admiralty.
“The vacancy tax does not target vacant flats in the secondary market. That means a large problem is left unresolved,” said Denise Chow, a 26-year-old sustainability specialist.
Although the turnout of the march has dropped since the Occupy movement in 2014, a wide range of protesters, young and old, and even mainlanders, were spotted.
Secondary two pupil Isaac Yiu, 14, expressed worries over reduced freedoms in Hong Kong.
