Black-clad protesters united in common cause insist: we are not rioters, we are just ordinary citizens who love Hong Kong
- Marching from Causeway Bay to Admiralty, Hongkongers from all walks of life gather for common goal
- Suspending extradition bill not enough for many, who want Chief Executive Carrie Lam to quit
Insisting they were not rioters but simply “ordinary citizens who love Hong Kong” protesters returned to the streets of the city in their hundreds of thousands on Sunday, a day after the city’s leader hit the pause button on the controversial extradition bill.
A sea of black appeared on streets from Causeway Bay to Admiralty as civil servants, private sector workers, teachers, students, the old and the young heeded calls from march organisers to wear the colour in a sign of protest against the police.
United in solidarity they marched, keen to show their anger at Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s decision to only suspend the second reading of the unpopular bill, and to defy calls to apologise and step down. Some six hours after the march started Lam did finally issue an apology.
Some protesters waited for hours to be able to get onto a bus to get to Victoria Park, the starting place for the march, whilst one protester had to walk from Hong Kong station to Causeway Bay with his 80-year-old father because they could not get onto a train, meaning they walked double the distance other protesters did.
The march, which some estimated was bigger than last weekend, capped off an extraordinary week of protests and clashes between police and demonstrators.
