TIL Desk/World/Hong Kong/ Hong Kong police arrested about 400 people on charges of illegal assembly and possession of arms during a New Year anti-government march, which organizers said was attended by more than a million people. Hong Kongers came out en masse on Wednesday for the march organizers had to eventually cancel following police orders, leading to clashes between officers and the more radical protesters.
Although permission for the demonstration had been granted, police urged organizers – the Civil Human Rights Front – to end the procession three hours after it started, arguing some protesters had begun throwing stones and Molotov cocktails and burning shops and banks. Trouble started when activists vandalized a branch of banking giant HSBC, which led to police cracking down on them with teargas, local media outlets reported.
Other protesters in the front columns of the march formed human chains, seemingly unwilling to go away, leading to further clashes with police that ended in arrests. Away from the clashes, thousands marched peacefully to urge citizens of the former British colony to keep protests alive in 2020 and remind the government of the pro-democracy movement”s demands through placards and slogans.
