Traffic at standstill as thousands again take to streets in Hong Kong to protest against anti-mask law
- City’s leader Carrie Lam expected to announce ban on people wearing masks at public assemblies
- Press conference to take place at 3pm and new law could come into force at midnight
Thousands of Hongkongers have taken to the streets in Central, Causeway Bay and Tai Koo in the second lunchtime protest in three days against the city’s government.
At about 1pm on Friday, protesters in Central started to march from Chater Garden, occupying and stopping traffic on the westbound lanes of Des Voeux Road Central, and four eastbound lanes of Connaught Road Central near the IFC Mall.
Their protest came a day after sources revealed the city’s embattled leader, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, is expected to announce a ban on people wearing masks at public assemblies, as it struggles to control the increasingly violent anti-government protests that have gripped the city for months.
The announcement is expected to be made at a press conference at 3pm, when Lam, together with senior officials, department secretaries and bureau directors, will meet the media at the Central Government Offices.
“Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong,” protesters, including many office workers, chanted in Central.
In Causeway Bay, about 100 protesters, many wearing masks, gathered at Times Square to chant slogans in a flash mob protest against the anti-mask law. They also marched to the Sogo department store.