Companies have got caught in the middle of the protests. Chinese retailers and branches of lenders like Bank of China Ltd have been ransacked by vandals
Hong Kong saw its biggest pro-democracy protest in months Sunday, signaling more unrest to come in 2020 as the movement that began in June to fight China’s increasing grip on the city shows its staying power.
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators flooded the city’s major downtown boulevards, many waving US flags, singing “Glory to Hong Kong” and chanting “Five demands, not one less.” The march drew a cross-section of Hong Kong society — from parents with young kids to senior citizens — and was largely peaceful throughout the afternoon, although tensions emerged between riot police and some radical demonstrators at night.
Protesters calls to disrupt the Monday commute and workday, however, hadn’t materialized as of late morning. The Sunday rally was the first organized by the Civil Human Rights Front to get police approval since August, prompting many Hong Kong residents who normally wouldn’t risk joining an illegal assembly to hit the streets. The organizer said about 800,000 were at the rally, while police estimated 183,000 joined at the peak of the protest. The show of strength followed a landslide victory for pro-democracy forces in local elections last month.
“Yet another breathtaking display of Hongkongers’ political might,” said Claudia Mo, a pro-democracy lawmaker who joined the march on Sunday. “By now it’s obvious the Hong Kong fight will go on, we will soldier on,” she said. “This may last for the generations to come.”
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