Police have officially approved a major protest planned for this Sunday, but with a slight caveat: rather than ending at the Court of Final Appeal, the march must now terminate in Wan Chai, at the junction of Luard and Johnston roads.
According to Apple Daily, the police formally issued a “letter of no objection” for the protest, but rejected the Civil Human Rights Front’s proposed endpoint for public safety reasons, citing chatter circulating online about potentially unruly behavior in Admiralty or Central.
According to CHRF convenor Jimmy Sham, police will only close three lanes of traffic for the march, and have refused to shut down the tram lanes as well, something likely to pose a problem if Sunday’s march approaches the size of previous demonstrations.
Past marches on the same route have been so large that they overwhelmed roads surrounding the official route as well.
The CHRF has appealed the traffic arrangements, and has requested that a hearing on the matter be held tomorrow, RTHK reports.
The protest is slated to begin at 3pm at Victoria Park, and will focus on demands for an independent investigation into police’s use of force at past protests.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the endpoint of the march was Lugar Road. In fact, it was Luard Road. Coconuts HK apologizes for any confusion.
