Hong Kong protesters hold 11th week of protest with peaceful march

2019-08-19 119

Hundreds of thousands of protesters in Hong Kong gathered for a rally Sunday,...marking the eleventh week of protests and unrest that began with a now-suspended extradition bill.
For more on this and other news around the world, let's turn to our Kim Da-mi.
Dami, tell us more about this latest protest.
Mark, braving torrential downpours, hundreds of thousands of people returned to the streets of Hong Kong...this time at Victoria Park.
Victoria Park was the starting point of huge peaceful marches in June.
As protesters planned, the march remained peaceful throughout the day...for the first time in 4 weeks.
There was no use of tear gas by the police and people freely marched through the city with their umbrellas, including in the Causeway Bay and Wan Chai areas.
The police did approve the Sunday rally but still didn't allow a march to the Central district, fearing possible clashes like before.
But protesters marched anyway.
According to the organizers, around 1-point-7 million people participated in the demonstrations, but police tallied the number far lower at 128-thousand people.
The protests began back in June over a controversial, but now-scrapped extradition law.
But demonstrations now also focus on greater democratic freedoms, including an inquiry into alleged police brutality.
Fortunately, China's military, which was seen conducting exercises near Hong Kong, did not intervene in Sunday's protest.
But concerns remain that the Chinese government may use military from the mainland to crack down on the protesters.