London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jul 30, 2025

Hundreds take to malls for lunchtime rallies marking one-year anniversary of anti-government movement

Demonstrators gather across at least four major shopping centres to sing anthems, chant familiar slogans. Pointing to lack of universal suffrage, one clerk says you ‘can’t blame the victims’, but concedes Covid-19, security law fears have hampered movement

Hundreds of protesters turned up in malls across Hong Kong on Tuesday, chanting defiant slogans and waving banners as they marked the first anniversary of an extradition bill protest that would soon morph into months of anti-government unrest.

“Liberate Hong Kong; revolution of our times”, protesters shouted at lunch time protests taking place across at least four major shopping centres in the city.

Inside the Landmark mall in Central, protesters spread posters across the floor bearing political slogans and supportive messages, asking fellow demonstrators not to forget their “original cause”.

Others waved a black flag demanding the city be ”liberated”, along with the city’s British colonial flag, while singing a rendition of the protest’s de facto anthem Glory to Hong Kong.

The mix of protesters ranged from secondary school students to middle-aged office workers.

While about 10 security guards at Landmark held up signs reminding people of social-distancing measures, there was no police presence inside the mall.

Sam Ho, an accountant in his 30s who occasionally joins lunchtime protests, said he was concerned by the national security law Beijing will soon impose on the city and feared Hongkongers could be “arrested for no reason” under the new legislation.



Last month, Beijing announced it would draft a national security law for the city, citing wider calls for independence and self-determination and saying Hong Kong had failed to the job on its own following months of protests.

“I don’t feel safe at all. I even have to use a VPN to go on the internet and say what I want to say,” Ho said. “I feel like I needed to come out and express myself ... because I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to do it in the future.”

A 45-year-old clerk, Helen Leung, had similar fears, but said she did not believe last year’s protests were the real reason for the law.

“Hong Kong has obviously changed for the worse this past year, but I don’t agree that protesting led to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) using their ‘super weapon’, the national security law,” she said.

“You can’t blame the victims. If the CCP gave us universal suffrage, then we wouldn’t need to do so much. But they broke their promise and violated what was guaranteed under Basic Law.”

The city’s mini-constitution, under Article 23, also requires the city to enact its own national security law. But the government’s lone attempt to introduce one in 2003 was abandoned after it triggered a 500,000-strong protest.

Nonetheless, Leung said she did not believe the situation would be different even if Hong Kong had passed its own law. “They will just keep piling pressure on us until we feel like jumping off the edge,” she said.

The security law the central government intends to promulgate will outlaw acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference in city affairs, sparking concern in some corners that longstanding freedoms could be in danger.

The clerk conceded that the momentum of the pro-democracy movement had fallen off noticeably due to the coronavirus pandemic and fears over the new law, but added that while “some are scared, it doesn’t mean they will kowtow to the CCP”.

Separate protests were taking place simultaneously at other shopping centres across the city, including Kwun Tong’s APM mall, where supporters flocked to upper floors overlooking the atrium to raise their lighted mobile phones, while protesters were also spotted at Cityplaza in Tai Koo and Kwai Chung’s Kowloon Commercial Centre.

As Tuesday’s lunchtime protests were wrapping up, the Civil Human Rights Front, the group behind last year’s largest peaceful marches, urged Hong Kong residents to dress in black next Monday to mark the death of a protester who fell from Pacific Place mall in Admiralty on June 15 last year.

The protester, Marco Leung Ling-kit, also known as “Raincoat Man”, died while displaying a banner demanding the withdrawal of the extradition bill and the release of arrested protesters.

The front, an umbrella organisation in the pro-democracy camp, said they would not be able to hold a public gathering to mourn Leung’s death due to the government’s ban on public gathering’s larger than eight amid the coronavirus outbreak, which its convener said was being used as a pretext to clamp down on dissent.

“At this juncture we do not know what more can be done,” Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit said, adding some of the front’s members planned to make a tribute to Leung outside the mall next Monday.

Exactly a year ago, a sea of people in white T-shirts – the movement’s initial default colour, as opposed to the now-familiar black – took to the streets of Causeway Bay, Wan Chai and Admiralty to oppose the extradition bill proposed then by the government. An estimated 1 million people were said to have attended the march, which failed to influence the government’s plan.

Three days later, on June 12, angry protesters surrounded the city’s Legislative Council in Admiralty in a bid to block lawmakers from debating the bill. Riot police officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets amid clashes in a bid to disperse the crowds.

Another, even larger march, estimated to be attended by 2 million people, would follow on June 16.

The government eventually withdrew the bill in September, but by then, the movement had grown increasingly violent, with radical protesters vandalising shops and frequently clashing with police in nighttime battles.

The police force, in turn, was accused of using excessive force in handling the situation, including the widespread use of tear gas and even live ammunition in a few instances.

The protest movement dwindled earlier this year as Covid-19 hit. But it has returned, albeit on a smaller scale, in recent weeks, as Beijing’s plan to enact a security law outlawing acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference, has sparked fears over the potential erosion of rights.

The Hong Kong government and Beijing have repeatedly stressed it would target only a minority of people.



Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Former Judge Charged After Drunk Driving Crash Kills Comedian in Brazil
Jeff Bezos hasn’t paid a dollar in taxes for decades. He makes billions and pays $0 in taxes, LEGALLY
China Increases Use of Exit Bans Amid Rising U.S. Tensions
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Procter & Gamble to Raise U.S. Prices to Offset One‑Billion‑Dollar Tariff Cost
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
Botswana Seeks Controlling Stake in De Beers as Anglo American Prepares Exit
Trump Administration Proposes Repeal of Obama‑Era Endangerment Finding, Dismantling Regulatory Basis for CO₂ Emissions Limits
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
A family has been arrested in the UK for displaying the British flag
Mel Gibson refuses to work with Robert De Niro, saying, "Keep that woke clown away from me."
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
The British propaganda channel BBC News lies again.
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
×