Police have given the green light for the Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) to hold a rally on Hong Kong Island on New Year’s Day on Wednesday.
The CHRF, the organization behind some of the biggest marches in Hong Kong’s history, announced plans for the march last week pending a letter of no objection from police.
The organization announced yesterday evening that the annual New Year’s Day rally had been given the the go-head for a march from Victoria Park in Causeway Bay to Chater Road in Central. While the police letter of no objection lasts from 3pm to 10pm, CHRF are calling on people to gather at 2pm, one hour before the procession begins at 3pm.
https://www.facebook.com/CivilHumanRightsFront/photos/a.517931904920872/2695522110495163/?type=3&theater
The New Year’s Day march is an annual event for CHRF and other pro-democracy organizations to rally around key pro-democracy issues from human rights to political reform. The front also confirmed that 40 newly-established trade unions will be taking part on Wednesday’s rally, and is urging all participants to join unions to enhance workers’ bargaining power and facilitate industrial action where necessary.
The theme of Wednesday’s rally is to urge the government to accept the five key demands of the ongoing protest movement, which began in June initially to demand the withdrawal of a controversial extradition bill — a demand that was finally met in September. But the movement has since spiralled into include demands for widespread political reforms.
The last major CHRF rally took place on December 8, in which the group estimated about 800,000 people turned up, while police put the peak figure at 183,000.
