HK protest leaders ignore ban, call for march

Bloomberg

Hong Kong protest organisers said they would lead demonstrators through Kowloon on Sunday in a march despite losing an appeal against a police ban on the procession.
The Appeal Board on Public Meetings and Processions supported the police’s refusal to approve the march because of the potential for violence, Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) reported. The rally was originally called to protest a government ban on masks and comes after Wednesday’s attack on Civil Human Rights Front’s organiser Jimmy Sham by hammer-wielding thugs in Mong Kok.
Protesters are seeking to keep the pressure on Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam with a 20th straight weekend of demonstrations. Earlier this week, Lam was twice shouted down in the city’s legislature by opposition lawmakers as she discussed her annual policy address.
The protests began in opposition to Lam’s since-scrapped bill allowing extraditions to mainland China and have expanded to include calls for greater democracy and an independent inquiry. The unrest has turned increasingly violent, with frequent clashes between protesters and police.
Civil Human Rights Front convener Figo Chan said he will lead a march on Sunday along the route originally planned and he will be joined by other prominent pro-democracy activists including Leung Kwok-hung, Albert Ho and Cyd Ho, RTHK reported.
Demonstrators planned to walk from Tsim Sha Tsui to the express rail terminus in West Kowloon before the police banned the march. The protesters could face arrest, but all of the city’s protests have had to deal with risks, whether they received police permission or not, RTHK cited Chan as saying.
Hong Kong protesters lost an appeal against the police ban of their planned march through Tsim Sha Tsui on concern about violence, RTHK reported.