HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) - Thousands of Hong Kong protesters started arriving for an afternoon rally in the city centre after prominent activists called for continued support for the demonstrations to keep their grievances in the world spotlight.
Police approved the gathering in Chater Garden in the Central business district but not a planned march to the Causeway Bay shopping area, citing concerns that it could turn violent.
Sunday's rally follows a relative lull in the past weeks, with the social unrest in its seventh month of sometimes-violent protests that were ignited by a Bill to allow extraditions to mainland China.
The demonstrators' demands have broadened to include greater democracy and an independent inquiry into police conduct.
Activist Joshua Wong said the number of participants in Sunday's march is crucial to continue informing the international community of Hong Kong's ongoing struggle.
Speaking to local media, he said the movement needs to maintain a sufficient level of demonstrators at the marches to ensure the world's attention does not wane.
One of Sunday's rally organisers, Mr Ventus Lau, said protesters must be aware they might be involved in clashes with police.
Demonstrators "may be stopped and searched by the police or you may face clashes between the police and the citizens", given past experiences, he told Radio Television Hong Kong.
“Today we believe we need to make the world focus on Hong Kong again. In the past few weeks, maybe they’ve been focusing on Iran or even on the Taiwan election. But now, it is time to look at Hong Kong again,” Mr Lau said.
“It is 2020, the year of the Legislative Council election. If the government refuses to give us universal suffrage, this is a clear sign that they are still suppressing our human rights, our freedom and our democracy,” he said.
Traffic through Hong Kong International Airport declined across the board last year as months of unrest, including protest-related closures at the transit hub.
The airport handled 71.5 million passengers in 2019, down 4.2 per cent from a year earlier, the Airport Authority Hong Kong said in a press release on Sunday.
Flight movements fell 1.9 per cent, while total cargo throughput declined 6.1 per cent from a year ago to 4.8 million tonnes.
Some of the more violent clashes seen in Hong Kong happened at the airport and its rail link last year as protesters organised sit-ins that led to the delays and cancellation of hundreds of flights.
Meanwhile, Ms Lisa Lau, a former member of the Independent Police Complaints Council, said the body's lack of investigative powers is an impediment to investigating the protests, and added the group has not yet met with the police commander in charge of the July incident in Yuen Long when subway riders were violently attacked, Ming Pao reported on Sunday.
More than 100 people gathered in Kowloon Tong on Saturday to protest what they see as anti-government bias from local broadcaster RTHK.
Elsewhere, about 50 pro-police supporters rallied outside the Mong Kok police station, presenting officers with gifts to show their support.
