The organizer of a mass protest originally planned for Saturday, the Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF), has lost its appeal against a police force ban on the event.
The unprecedented ban, or letter of objection, not only forbids CHRF from marching, but also from holding a stationary rally in lieu of a march, when in the past they have been allowed to do so. CHRF appealed the decision, but the group’s convenor, Jimmy Sham, announced today that the appeal had been unsuccessful and that the protest was canceled.
“This is a worrying development,” Sham told reporters after the appeal was rejected. “The government is causing conflict then using it as an excuse to ban peaceful means of expression.”
“The government is not proposing solutions to societal problems,” Sham added. “Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s indifference towards the citizens’ demands is the reason these problems arose in the first place.”
At the appeals conference, the assistant commander of Central District, Liu Ka Kei, said the decision to block the march was “very difficult,” and that police had to be “extremely careful” in their deliberations, HK01 reports. He cited online materials that referred to the Aug. 31 protest as an “endgame,” and Telegram group messages as evidence that the protest had a high potential to spiral into violence.
CHRF is the organizer behind several million-strong marches that have taken place since June, when the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong began in earnest. Though the protests have been notable for both their size and nonviolence, some clashes had occurred between police and hardcore elements after officially sanctioned marches had ended.
Saturday’s banned rally was meant to have marked the fifth anniversary of a proposed “electoral reform” package by Beijing to allow Hongkongers to vote for chief executive, but only from a selection of Beijing-approved candidates. The proposal was struck down at the time by pro-dems for being insufficiently democratic, and calls for genuine universal suffrage have reemerged as one of protesters’ key demands.
Meanwhile, the ban seemed to matter little to protesters online, some of whom today were still planning on gathering in Central regardless.
“See you in Chater Garden tomorrow,” said one LIHKG user. “We can’t afford to lose.”
