Hong Kong braces for weekend of marches as pro-establishment camp to support police at Tamar Park ahead of Sunday’s massive protest against the government

‘Safeguard Hong Kong’ rally will call for residents to give embattled leader Carrie Lam more time to recover from political crisis

Police ask small community group organising separate march in Hung Hom 32 questions on planning and security arrangements

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Protesters rally in support of the police force outside Hong Kong’s government headquarters on June 30. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Published: 9:30pm, 18 Jul 2019Updated: 1:36pm, 25 Jul 2019

Hong Kong is bracing for another weekend of protests with the pro-Beijing camp set to stage its second major rally on Saturday to mobilise middle-of-the-road residents to condemn violence and support police, a day before yet another massive march against the city’s embattled government.

Organisers of the pro-establishment “Safeguard Hong Kong” rally steered clear of lending unequivocal support to the city’s beleaguered leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, only asking people to “give her more time” to recover from the worst political crisis facing Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is braced for another massive march on Sunday. Photo: Dickson Lee

“I think she’s suffered quite a lot, and she’s been rethinking the way forward,” said lawyer Kennedy Wong Ying-ho, co-organiser of the rally and a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the nation’s top advisory body.

The rally was announced as police, in a rare move, asked a small community group organising a separate march against mainland Chinese tourists in Hung Hom next Saturday to answer 32 questions on their planning and security arrangements for “detailed analysis”, after earlier protests in Sha Tin and Sheung Shui descended into violence between protesters and officers.

The anti-government protests on Sunday and next week are among a series of actions in the pipeline, including a social workers’ silent march from Wan Chai to the Chief Executive’s Office in Admiralty on Sunday, and demonstrations in Mong Kok, Western district and Tseung Kwan O on the coming weekends.