Democracy activist went on the street on Sunday for National Day protest in Hong Kong to show their anger on “authoritarian rule”, calling for Rimsky Yuen, the justice secretary to step down.
The protesters started from Victoria Park, departed from Victoria Park, to the destination Government Headquarters at Tamar Park, passing through Causeway Bay and Wan Chai. The event was organized by five organizations, including Demosisto, League of Social Democrats, Students Fight For Democracy, North East Support Group and Civil Human Rights Front. According to the organizers, 40000 people took part in the protest.
Most of the protesters wore black T-shirt, chanted “No more political suppression, step down Rimsky Yuen”. Different kinds of slogans were held by protesters, such as “No fears of political suppression”, “Fight for Hong Kong”. To commemorate “the umbrella movement”, pictures of yellow umbrellas were drawn on the ground in front of the Government Headquarters.
The Community Citizen Charter started their work early in the afternoon. Volunteers set up counters with cartoon pictures of the arrested 16 people, gave out sheets to collect supporting ideas from people. “They did their best for the society, not for themselves. Now they are unfairly in jail for this reason, we should continue to help, we should not let their efforts go in vain,”Jass Wang, a volunteer from the Community said.
Despite the fact that it rained heavily during the afternoon, Protesters arrived at their last station Tamar Park at about 16:30. Leaders of the organizers gave their speeches to the public.
Avery Ng Man-yuen, chairman of the League of Social Democrats, one of the event organizers appreciated that people could come out in the street despite the heavy rain. He said: “If we do not speak out our opinions, do not reject authoritarian rules together, tragedies of the jailed people will one day happen to our closest people.”
Benny Tai, a co-founder of Occupy Central and associate professor of Law at The University of Hong Kong, when questioned about the effectiveness even if Yuen resigns, said: “It is definitely useful. Yuen should be responsible for authoritarian suppression. Of course, the government can still assign another ‘Rimsky Yuen’, but we will still persist on justice.”
Thirteen protesters were arrested and jailed earlier by the government. Trevor Langford, who has been living in Hong Kong for 25 years said: “Because of the position of Rimsky Yuen, these people have to go to jail. Government overruled the jury. Political justice is not judiciary justice.”
“Beijing has controlled everything, it is a problem. The only thing I can have some optimism about is that I hope there will be some international objection. And this will affect Hong Kong’s future, its economy, its existing freedoms, ”Trevor said, “I don’t expect the same freedoms as in the UK, but I also don’t expect the current situation to go down.”
A year ago, he was rejected entering a voting booth, when wearing a T-shirt with a phrase “Reject Fake Suffrage” on it. “I was told not to show opinions when voting, and I had to cover those words on my T-shirt. Everybody has the right to speak, to express themselves. The democratic freedom is eroded in Hong Kong,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter if the protesters fail this time. As the protest goes, the government will not behave without restraint, and the protest makes more uninformed people know about what happened. And that will finally make a difference,” Angela Tong, a local resident said. “I do not want Hong Kong to be independent from China, China is a whole nation. People who are demanding democracy and justice, are not denying the nation, they might be just opposing the authoritarian communist party.”
Tourists from mainland expressed their confusion. Jolin Yang, who has just come to Hong Kong for the holidays with her friend said:“I am confused, why Macao does not have that much democracy problems as Hong Kong, the two cities are the same in institutes.”
Another tourist from mainland, Kevin Hu, who was occasionally holding a yellow umbrella, was surprised about the number of yellow umbrellas in the street. He came across the event when travelling with his parents, not ever heard about the umbrella movement, nor did he know who is Rimsky Yuen.
The protest ended at around 18:00. After the protest, free operators from Catholic Church went on to have a meeting at the site, chanting and singing songs to support the protesters. According to Erik Wong, they have held these meetings many times, to show their ideas in a more peaceful way.
This morning, a flag-raising ceremony was held in Hong Kong, to commemorate the 68-th National Day. Another firework show was to be held in the evening at 21:00.
By the end of the day, no government officials have given any reactions to the protest event.
Olivia Yin 