Organisers say 10,000 took to the streets in protest against contentious joint checkpoint plan for city\u2019s cross-border rail link to mainland China<\/b>
\nA New Year\u2019s Day pro-democracy march by thousands of demonstrators ended in scuffles and a defiant stand-off with police at the newly reopened \u201cCivic Square\u201d protest site outside Hong Kong\u2019s government headquarters.
Organisers said 10,000 took to the streets on Monday to voice their concerns over what they see as campaign by Beijing to reduce Hong Kong\u2019s autonomy through a series of contentious moves. Police put the rally turnout at a more conservative 6,200.
The protesters made their way from Wan Chai to the government compound in nearby Admiralty, where the otherwise peaceful march became unruly as police officers surrounded demonstrators outside the East Wing Forecourt, popularly known as \u201cCivic Square\u201d.
The square, a magnet for public demonstrations, had been closed since students stormed it and triggered the Occupy protests of 2014, but it was reopened to the public last Thursday with restricted access.
\u201cProtect Hong Kong,\u201d the protesters chanted as they stopped on Tim Mei Avenue outside the square on Monday before about 200 of them went in. They had been permitted to use the area until 6.30pm.
Scuffles broke out when some diehard protesters made their way up to an elevated platform flying the national and Hong Kong flags. Security guards tried to chase them off, and one protester had to be carried away on a stretcher.
At least three persons, including two security guards, were said to have felt unwell after the clash at the platform and were sent away by ambulance. By 9pm, a police spokesman said it did not have information about reports of injuries during the march and subsequent rally.
Before the start of the march, a 56-year-old man was arrested by police outside No 22 East Point Road for allegedly having damaged a protest banner. Police classified it a case of \u201ccriminal damage\u201d.
The scene was reminiscent of the original protest that set off 79 days of road blockades in 2014, with dozens of police officers surrounding the platform to prevent more demonstrators from climbing onto it. But the officers and security guards dispersed after about half an hour, allowing protesters to freely plant themselves on the stage.
The main theme of the rally, organised by the Civil Human Rights Front, was opposition to last week\u2019s formal endorsement by China\u2019s top legislative body of a controversial plan to set up a joint checkpoint at the West Kowloon station of a high-speed rail link that will connect Hong Kong with Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
Critics of the so-called co-location arrangement fear it will undermine the city\u2019s autonomy by allowing officials from across the border to enforce mainland Chinese laws for the first time on Hong Kong soil \u2013 specifically over a zone leased to them at the terminal.
Other themes included opposition to changes to the rule book for the city\u2019s legislature, which protesters fear will enable the Hong Kong government to force through unpopular legislation, including a highly contentious national security law.
They were also protesting against what they described as the political persecution of Occupy leaders, social injustices, urban planning without consultation and the monopolies held by some big corporations.
By 8.30pm, about 20 were still camped on the platform, from where they dared security guards to remove them by force.
Applicants seeking to use the East Wing forecourt for a public assembly must satisfy the government\u2019s list of conditions, ranging from no smoking during the course of an event to participants having to clean up the area at an event\u2019s conclusion.
One condition states that \u201cparticipants shall not stand or place any items on the flagstaff platform inside the East Wing Forecourt\u201d during the course of the event.
\u201cIf you carry us away, it will be common assault. All the media are watching,\u201d one protester said.
Localist politician Gary Fan Kwok-wai, of the NeoDemocrats, joined the march as a member of a concern group opposing the checkpoint proposal.
\u201cBeijing is forcefully interfering in Hong Kong\u2019s affairs,\u201d Fan said. \u201cIt\u2019s not Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy now. It\u2019s the National People\u2019s Congress Standing Committee ruling the city with Hong Kong having zero autonomy.\u201d
Ivan Wong, 11, and his mother, Shirley Ma, a 47-year-old office worker, were among those opposing the co-location plan.
\u201cIt\u2019s not supported by the Basic Law at all,\u201d Wong said. \u201cIt completely destroys the Basic Law. I want to tell the government that I think this is unreasonable.\u201d
Satomi Cheng Lai-ni, a 50-year-old office worker, was also worried about the co-location problem, and expressed disappointment over low turnouts at recent protests.
\u201cI understand that citizens feel powerless, but if we don\u2019t come out the government will be able to say we are just a minority and ignore us,\u201d Cheng said.
Yanni Heung Yan-kiu, 19, said it was her first time joining a march, and she had come out because she was upset about the changes to the rules of procedure in the Legislative Council .
\u201cIt will deprive the council of its power and have a very serious impact,\u201d Heung said. \u201cThe pro-establishment lawmakers will be able to control the council and do what they like.\u201d
The government issued a statement on Monday saying it respected freedom of expression and the right to protest, but it urged participants to abide by the rules in using \u201cCivic Square\u201d to avoid accidents.
A government spokesman said Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor had reiterated publicly on many occasions that she and her administration would \u201cstrive to uphold the Basic Law and safeguard the rule of law\u201d.
On the amendments to the rules of procedure in Legco, the spokesman said it was within the authority of the legislature to set and amend the rules of its own volition according to the Basic Law .
The spokesman said there was a sound legal basis for the rail checkpoint plan and appealed to various sectors to \u201cunderstand the co-location arrangement and related matters objectively, pragmatically and comprehensively\u201d.
The turnout for the New Year\u2019s Day march, an annual event, has been relatively small in the last two years, at 9,100 last year and 4,000 in 2016, according to the Civil Human Rights Front. Police meanwhile estimated the turnout at 4,800 and 1,600 in 2017 and 2016 respectively.
The 2013 march saw the biggest turnout in recent years, with the front claiming some 130,000 people took part, while police said the number was about 26,000.
Additional reporting by Ng Kang-chung<\/p>\n