The city has moved to shut down its metro stations and block off roads near the planned official celebration of the day. The government rejected a formal request for a permitted protest, citing safety concerns, but a large number of protesters are still expected to turn out to voice their anger over what they see as efforts by a repressive Chinese government to erode the region’s democratic rights under the one-country-two-systems framework. Ominously, the Chinese government has doubled the number of troops in Hong Kong. There are now an estimated 10,000 and 12,000 Chinese troops in the region - up from 3,000 to 5,000 before August - even though state-run media have claimed that they are not increasing military presence there. Some of that number include members of a separate paramilitary force that specializes in riot control. So far, Beijing has been willing to sit back and let Hong Kong’s own security forces handle the protests, but a full crackdown is feared. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam had said last month that China was not planning to intervene and put down the demonstrations itself, but the movement of troops into what is now thought to be the largest-ever Chinese force in Hong Kong indicates it’s highly possible the mainland government will make a show of force on Tuesday.