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Joyce Ng

Christy Leung

Emily Tsang

Jeffie Lam

Owen Fung

Selina Cheah

Linjin Li

Viola Zhou

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Chris Lau

Julia Hollingsworth

This was the Post’s real-time coverage of the July 1 march.
7.17pm: Organiser announces turnout
Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit, convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front, announced that 110,000 people attended today.
He thanked Hongkongers for attending the protest despite the hot weather. He also urged protesters to continue to pay attention to the case of bookseller Lam Wing-kee to ensure his safety.
Police, however, estimated turnout was only 19,300 at its peak – down from the 19,650 participants the force counted in last year’s march.

6.10pm: Police reinforcements ready
Meanwhile, further west of Admiralty, outside Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong, which radical protesters earlier vowed to besiege, no protesters had yet been seen.
Police were tightly controlling vehicular traffic on Connaught Road West, with more than 40 officers stationed at the office’s door.

They set up several designated public activities areas in apparent anticipation of a protest planned by localists from 7pm.
Scores of plainclothes and uniformed officers in uniform were fanned out up to two blocks from the office, with around ten police vehicles parked near the office.
5.45pm: Canto-pop stars are out
The rear of the march has passed Canal Road in Causeway Bay.
Canto-pop singers Denise Ho Wan-sze and Anthony Wong Yiu-ming waved to fans and helped collect donations for the LGBT group “BigLove Alliance” on Hennessy Road during the march. At one point, Ho waved a shirt that read “I am Hong Kong.”

“Our group represents those with LGBT identities,” Ho said to the crowd in Cantonese. “We stand together with Hongkongers in fighting against the dominant power.”
Ho was embroiled in controversy last month after cosmetics giant Lancome announced it was cancelling a promotional event at which she was to perform. Ho was a vocal supporter of the pro-democracy Occupy movement.
“Hongkongers, we need to hang in there,” she said when asked to take a microphone. “Let us all be tough in this fight!”
5.20pm: If water sales are any indication...
It has not been a good day for Irving Street shopkeeper Herbert Chan, 30, who estimated his water sales were down 20 per cent on last year despite his prime location along the protest route.

Although he had sold water for the past four years he had never attended the protest himself, describing himself as unhappy with CY Leung but “neutral”.
5.10pm: First marchers arrive in Admiralty
The vanguard of the procession arrives at Harcourt Road in Admiralty, where the pro-democracy Occupy movement took place almost two years ago.
5pm: Test run for Telegram
At Irving Street and as the march continued towards Wan Chai, volunteers with Benny Tai Yiu-ting – a leaving voice of the Occupy movement – were helping marchers install a Telegram app to help counting turnout for the day.

The use of Telegram, an app touted for its security, amounted to a test run for Tai as he readies a plan called Thunderbolt to win half of the city’s Legislative Council seats in September.
4.30pm: The protesters’ concerns
From the missing booksellers saga to general dissatisfaction with the city’s future, protesters on Friday revealed a variety of reasons for joining the march.

Lawyer Ambrose Lau, 65, said he participated every year and brought along his family this time. Lau described the city’s political environment as deteriorating over the past 19 years, and hoped the administration could safeguard the city’s autonomy.
Followed by strangers, bookseller Lam Wing-kee pulls out of July 1 march fearing ‘serious threat’ to personal safety
“Taking the booksellers incident as an example, Beijing has been eroding our freedom of speech in Hong Kong,” he said.
“I was afraid that if I didn’t come out this year, there’ll be no more July 1 rallies in the future.”
He also called for better judicial independence, claiming Beijing officials and some local residents had been exerting undue pressure on judges in Hong Kong.
Sixty years Lau’s junior, Yip Ka-kei, 6, joined the march for the first time this year. She said she wanted to tell education chief Eddie Ng Hak-kim to scrap the Territory-wide System Assessment, also known as TSA, for all primary three students.

“I don’t want any exercises, just more leisure time,” she said.
The primary one student said she needed to attend three-hour-tutorial classes after school, and was overloaded with TSA exercises until she went to bed at 10pm.
She complained about having no free time on the weekends because she needed to go to piano classes, languages lessons and sport sessions.
“No TSA,” she said. “Let kids do what kids should do.”

Denise Chow, 24, who works at a local university, was one of the individuals carrying a 100-metre yellow banner expressing opposition to the government’s development plan for Lantau Island.” She has been coming to the July 1 rally every year since 2003.
“The march is more organised now because they try to bring in different parties,” Chow said. “I want to let more people know that there are these developments.”

Andrew Man, 22, from Lingnan University’s student union, turned out to protest tertiary education issues, including how Putonghua was being used to teach Chinese.
He was unhappy with Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s leadership and felt Hong Kong’s future was “uncertain”.
“I hate him,” Man said, adding he felt Leung was illegitimate and did not represent young people.
Fellow Lingnan University student union representative Flora Yiu, also 22, had come to the protest for the last two years to demand freedom of speech.

“It is my obligation to speak up,” she said.
Yiu said young people were “puzzled, disappointed and confused” about Hong Kong’s future.
“There’s a lot we have done to try to change the situation but however, it doesn’t work.”
Police stand prepared as July 1 protesters plan to start fires in 1,000-man siege on Beijing liaison office
Then there was Eric Wear, a permanent resident of the city who originally hails from the United States but arrived in Hong Kong in 1988. He said he’s been coming to the protest every year since it started.
“It’s not a very hopeful time,” the retired professor said.
“I think people feel a measure of hopelessness about the situation. That doesn’t mean they’re satisfied or happy. It simply means they’re not quite sure what to do now.”

He said the family of his wife, a Hong Kong native, were gradually leaving the city as they saw no future for their children. “It’s a sense of losing your home,” he said.
Although Wear did not expect the protest to have an immediate impact, he said it was necessary to continue turning out.
“It’s a question of people’s dignity,” he said.
“We’d like to see people recognised as citizens not subjects.”
4pm: A brief history of the march
The annual march has taken place since the handover in 1997. From 1997 to 2002, the protest was not well known to the public.
The first march in 1997 drew 3,000 participants; the year after, just hundreds.
From 1997 to 2002, the march was organised by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.
Everything you need to know about Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty
2003 was the watershed moment for the march as some half a million Hongkongers took to the streets to oppose the government’s proposal to implement Article 23 of the Basic Law pertaining to acts of treason, secession, sedition or subversion against Beijing. The march was soon followed by the resignation of Tung Chee-hwa, who was chief executive at the time.
3.30pm: Victoria Park turnout lower than expected
The annual pro-democracy march officially kicked off at around 3.25pm from Victoria Park, but turnout appeared to be lower at its outset than in previous years.
By the time the march began, only two of the park’s six football pitches had been filled, compared with the usual four or five pitches being filled by the march’s start.
March co-leader Ching Cheong said Lam Wing-kee’s withdrawal from the march due to personal safety concerns was unfortunate not only for the bookseller.

“Hongkongers are losing their basic sense of security now,” he said ahead of the march. “The precious freedom from fear is also dissipating.”
He urged Hongkongers to stand up to defend their core values, which he said had been gradually disappearing since the city’s handover in 1997.

The annual July 1 march that was to kick off at 3pm was expected to intensely express Hongkongers’ anger, fears and doubts over “one country, two systems”, fuelled by the missing booksellers saga.
Yet the march was also being dismissed as “ritualistic” by pro-democracy localist groups, who are vowing to “besiege” Beijing’s liaison office in the city in a “black-bloc” protest as the night unfolds.

In just one measure of the unease gripping the city, Lam Wing-kee, the Causeway Bay Books store manager who went missing for eight months and returned to the city last month claiming he was abducted by mainland agents, pulled out of leading this year’s pro-democracy march, citing a “serious threat” to his personal safety.
Is Hong Kong’s July 1 rally in danger of going backwards?
Lam’s account of what happened to him on the mainland has raised questions about the Hong Kong government’s ability to protect its residents from the reach of central government agencies.
Journalist Ching Cheong and activist Lau Shan-ching, two other Hongkongers who were detained on the mainland for political reasons, were invited to jointly lead the procession from Victoria Park to Admiralty.
March organiser Civil Human Rights Front estimated 100,000 people would take part.

While the front had no plans to continue protesting after the march, localist groups were vowing an additional, confrontational event.
The Hong Kong National Party, Hong Kong Indigenous and Youngspiration have criticised the July 1 march as pointless, despite its calling for the resignation of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying.
Separate from the march, the three groups planned to gather outside the central government’s liaison office from 7pm to demand independence for the city.
Police indicated a plan to pre-empt violence by stopping and searching individuals who gathered outside the office.
The student union of the Chinese University of Hong Kong posted a message on Facebook calling on Hongkongers to join the gathering on a day it said marked “the fall of Hong Kong”.
Police earlier said they were ready to deploy 2,000 officers to monitor the march and the subsequent protest.
Hong Kong July 1 march - Curated tweets by SCMP_News 



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July 1 march

July 1 march organiser claims turnout of 110,000, far above police estimate of 19,300

The route of the march passed through Causeway Bay and Wan Chai before ending in Admiralty. Photo: Sam Tsang

Denise Ho singer protest in the rally. The Civil Human Rights Front July 1st rally start from Victoria Park. 01JUL16 SCMP/Dickson Lee

The primary one student came out to oppose the TSA. Photo SCMP Pictures

VOXPOP Ambrose Lau, 65, Lawyer

The Civil Human Rights Front July 1st rally start from Victoria Park. 01JUL16 SCMP/K. Y. Cheng

Protester Andrew Man of Lingnan University. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Water vendor Herbert Chan. Photo: SCMP Pictures

The Civil Human Rights Front July 1st rally start from Victoria Park. 01JUL16 SCMP/Dickson Lee

Police standby outside the Liaison office in Western

Eric Wear, a long-time protester. Photo: SCMP Pictures

She said she felt inspired by the event. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Downloading the app Telegram on Irving Street. Photo: SCMP Pictures

‘Deepest grief’: CY Leung pays tribute to two dead firemen at July 1 flag-raising ceremony

The chief executive listed his administration’s achievements as well as the challenges ahead for Hong Kong. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Leung Chun-ying HKSAR CE attends the flag raising ceremony to celebrate the 19th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. 01JUL16 SCMP/Jonathan Wong

Leung Chun-ying HKSAR CE and wife attend the flag raising ceremony to celebrate the 19th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. 01JUL16 SCMP/Jonathan Wong

Activists of League of Social Democrats protest to HKSAR Establishment Day anniversary flag-raising ceremony and reception. Police try to stop activists set up fire outside the flag-raising venue in Wanchai. 01JUL16 SCMP/K. Y. Cheng

Leung Chun-ying HKSAR CE, officiates the reception for the 19th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. 01JUL16 SCMP/Dickson Lee

Everything you need to know about Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty

July 1 marks Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day. Image: Henry Wong

Governor Sir Murray MacLehose arriving at Kai Tak Airport. 03MAY78

Jiang Zemin shakes hands with Charles, Prince of Wales at the handover ceremony for Hong Kong at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, at midnight of 30 June 1997.

In Beijing, Mr Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese leader, is shaking hands with the British Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, after the signing ceremony of the Sino-British Joint Declaration. With a stroke of the pen, Mrs Margaret Thatcher endorsed the return of Hong Kong to China on June 30, 1997. 21DEC84

Protester carrying a placard, top left, calling for Hong Kong's top leader Tung Chee-hwa to step down, the chinese characters read "Step down if you are going to work against the will of the people and legislate the evil law" and other that read "We don't want Tung Chee-hwa," bottom right, as they take part in a mass rally and march against a proposed anti-subversion bill, held in Hong Kong on Tuesday, July 1, 2003. The territory's top leader Tung Chee-hwa is under mounting pressure to respond to the massive march by 500,000 people who opposed an anti-subversion bill. The rally was the biggest here since 1 million people demonstrated against China's crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement in June 1989. (AP Photo/Anat Givon)

Dancers perform on a stage below the clock in Beijing's Tiananmen Square which counted down the time remaining until the Hong Kong was returned to Chinese sovereignty, after the midnight handover Tuesday July 1, 1997. Thousands of invited guests and participants celebrated as the clock counted down to zero. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)

Beamlights illuminate a Chinese junk cruising in Hong Kong harbor Tuesday, July 1, 1997 to celebrate Hong Kong's handover to China after 156 years of British colonial rule. (AP Photo/Mike Fiala)

Hong Kong's newly inauguraated Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, left, toasts with Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen during a reception hosted by Tung to celebrate Hong Kong's return to China Tuesday, July 1, 1997.

Members of the public attend the flag raising ceremony at Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai, on 1 July 2009, in celebration of the 12th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

From Sars to Snowden: Hong Kong has seen dramatic events since the 1997 handover to China

Since the sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to China, the city has gone through a number of dramatic changes. On the 19th anniversary of the handover, we take a look back at some of the events that stood out:

Bronze medalist Lee Wai-sze of Hong Kong bites her bronze medal after the track cycling women's keirin event, during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. 03AUG12

Niek Stam, National Secretry , Dockers Section FNV Bondgenoten, Netherlands ( front Left) and Ron Westerbaan, Vice Chairperson, Union Board, ECT, Netherlands (front Right) arrive at Kwai Tsing container terminals to support Striking dock workers. 04MAY13

epa04539536 Pro-democracy protesters of Hong Kong's civil disobedience 'Umbrella Movement' sing Christmas carols in the street in defiance of the Hong Kong police who claim the protesters are breaking the law by committing 'unlawful assembly', Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, China, 24 December 2014. EPA/ALEX HOFFORD

A passenger plane roars over Kowloon City on its approach to Kai Tak Airport.

Visitors are visiting to the art works during the first public day of the Art Basel 2016 Hong Kong at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) in Wan Chai. 24MAR16 SCMP/Martin Chan

(FILES) A file picture taken on June 24, 2014 shows US National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden speaking to European officials via videoconference during a parliamentary hearing on improving the protection of whistleblowers, at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, eastern France. Several of this year's Nobel Peace Prize nominations, includingFlemming Rose, Saudi blogger Raif Badawi who is serving a 10-year jail sentence for insulting Islam and fugitive US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden, pay tribute to freedom of expression and the victims of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, according to early indications of the names put forward for the prestigous award. AFP PHOTO/FREDERICK FLORIN

Mass rally at Causeway Bay to protest against Article 23 during the 6th SAR establishment anniversary. 01 July 2003

In this Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016 photo, police officers walk past a blazing fire set by protestors in Mong Kok district of Hong Kong. Several dozen people appeared in a Hong Kong court Thursday, Feb. 11 to face rioting charges following a violent clash earlier this week between protesters and police sparked by a clampdown on holiday street food vendors. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

In this Sunday, April 12, 2015 photo, mainland Chinese tourists carry suitcases as they walk at a shopping district in Hong Kong. Chinese authorities brought in curbs on travel to Hong Kong on Monday, April 13 to cool tensions over the growing influx of mainland shoppers thats angering residents of the Asian financial hub. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

An 'Octopus' stored value card is displayed above a card scanner at a Mass Transit Railway (MTR) station in Hong Kong on July 27, 2010. The company behind the 'Octopus' stored-value card scheme disclosed that it had made around 5.6 million USD by selling the personal data of its users, during a special hearing to Hong Kong's privacy commissioner. AFP PHOTO / MIKE CLARKE / AFP PHOTO / MIKE CLARKE [25APRIL2016 FEATURES DIGITAL]

In this picture taken on January 3, 2016, a protestor holds up a missing person notice for Lee Bo, 65, the latest of five Hong Kong booksellers from the same Mighty Current publishing house to go missing, as they walk towards China's Liaison Office in Hong Kong. Britain confirmed on January 5 that one of five missing Hong Kong booksellers feared detained by Chinese authorities is a UK citizen, saying it was "deeply concerned" over the disappearances. AFP PHOTO / ANTHONY WALLACE

Students gesture during a demonstration demanding the government to withdraw the new subject "Moral and National Education" from the school curriculum, at the City University of Hong Kong , Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012. Hong Kong officials backed down on plans to make students take Chinese patriotism classes following protests in the former British colony which were sparked by fears of pro-Beijing "brainwashing." (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

** FOR USE AS DESIRED, YEAR END PHOTOS ** FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2010 file photo, police and SWAT members break the glass window of a tourist bus during an assault to rescue hostages at Manila's Rizal Park in Manila, Philippines. Rolando Mendoza, a dismissed policeman armed with automatic rifle, seized the bus in Manila Monday with 25 people aboard, mostly foreign tourists in a bid to demand reinstatement. Mendoza was killed along with an undetermined number of hostages. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

(091212) -- HONG KONG, Dec. 12, 2009 (Xinhua) -- Members of China's Hong Kong celebrate after winning the men's gold medal football match against Japan at the 5th East Asian Games in Hong Kong, south China, Dec. 12, 2009. China's Hong Kong won 5-3 to claim the champion. (Xinhua/Lui Siu Wai)(lm)

Hundreds of protesters hold a candle in the candlelight vigil to protest against the government's demolition of Star Ferry clock tower. 24 December 2006

A woman wool pass a Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect billboard in Tai Wai, Hong Kong. Hong Kong stocks climbed 0.9 percent in the morning session on Monday, April 13th, 2015, extending a recent rally to eight straight sessions, as more weak trade data from the mainland reinforced the view that Beijing will unveil fresh stimulus measures. 13APR15

A submerged ship is in the waters near Yung Shue Wan of Lamma Island. 01OCT12

A passerby looks at a panel displaying the closing Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong September 12, 2001. The territory's key share index lost 8.87 percent or 923.74 points to close at 9,493.62, its biggest one-day percentage drop since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, in reaction to devastating atacks on landmarks in New York and Washington which shook investor confidence worldwide. REUTERS/Bobby Yip

Jiang Zemin and Charles, Prince of Wales during the handover ceremony at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, at midnight of 30 June 1997.

Is Hong Kong’s July 1 rally in danger of going backwards?

Some 500,000 people marched through the city in 2003, but young people are losing faith in conventional protest methods

Ma Ngok, author of Political Development in Hong Kong, a book about politics over the past 20 years in Hong Kong. 26 January 2007

July 1st march from Victoria Park to Central Government Offices, Central, in protest against the Article 23. People assemble in Victoria Park this afternoon in the shadow of the Hong Kong SAR flag. 01 July 2003

The handover in 1997, when the British flag was lowered followed by the raising of the Chinese and Hong Kong flags. Photo: Robert Ng

July 1 march organiser claims turnout of 110,000, far above police estimate of 19,300

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Force’s figure down from the 19,650 they tallied at last year’s event

Force’s figure down from the 19,650 they tallied at last year’s event