After taking the city’s ongoing protest campaign to Kowloon for the first time yesterday, the online organizers of Hong Kong’s anti-extradition movement are already planning to spread their reach even further — both geographically and ideologically.
In forums like LIHKG, where much of the organizing of the city’s “leaderless” demonstrations has taken place in recent weeks, posts have begun cropping up touting “protests in 18 districts,” a reference to the city’s 18 administrative divisions. And rather than focusing solely on opposition to the city’s contentious extradition bill, which provided the spark for the month-long spate of protests, the new protests planned for the city’s outer districts will seek to incorporate social issues into the agenda as well.
A group called the North District Parallel Imports Concern Group is calling for a protest on Saturday in Sheung Shui, just across the river from Shenzhen.
https://www.facebook.com/NPDICG/photos/a.253037951485862/2155059301283708/?type=3&theater
Activists say the protest will also seek to raise public concerns about the issue of parallel traders — mainlanders who buy products in Hong Kong with the aim of reselling them back across the border — whom they say push up local retail prices and affect residents’ day-to-day business.
Holding an event in the North District can also carry the “voices of the protests” further away from the city’s shopping and business districts, which have hosted previous demonstrations.
Meanwhile, the administrators of the Shatin Commons Facebook page and district councillor Billy Chan announced plans for a rally through the New Territories district of Sha Tin this coming Sunday.
The post noted that the protest route had not been decided yet, as organizers were still discussing details with the police, but said that members of the Shatin Commons Telegram group would be informed of the particulars.
Over in Tseung Kwan O, people are also planning their own anti-extradition march for the following Sunday, July 21, the Concern Group For Tseung Kwan O People’s Livelihood and Community Alliance announced on Facebook.
In addition to echoing past protests’ demands, the event on the 21st is expected to include a visit the headquarters of TVB, the city’s largest broadcaster, which supporters of the anti-extradition movement have faulted for being insufficiently sympathetic.
Protesters at a previous event outside the Justice Department last month harassed a TVB journalist for “betraying Hong Kong,” forcing the camera operator to leave the scene. The Hong Kong Journalists Association later condemned the confrontation, urging protesters to “respect journalists’ right to report,” according to RTHK.
Details of the Tseung Kwan O protest have yet to be confirmed.
