The turnout for the rally could show whether the movement still has broad-based support after the ugly scenes witnessed during the past week when protesters occupied the city’s airport, for which some activists apologized.

 

Anger over a now-suspended bill that would allow criminal suspects in Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China erupted in June, but the rising unrest is fueled by broader worries about the erosion of freedoms guaranteed under the “one country, two systems” formula put in place after Hong Kong’s return from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

 

“Hong Kongers are tired of protesting, this is really the last thing they want. It’s bloody hot and it’s raining. It’s a torture just to turn up, frankly,” said a 24-year-old student named Jonathan.

 

 

“But we have to be here because we have no other choice. We have to continue until the government finally shows us the respect that we deserve,” he said.

 

Seated on concrete soccer fields in the sprawling Victoria Park in the city’s bustling Causeway Bay district, protesters held placards with slogans including “Free Hong Kong!” and “Democracy now!”, and umbrellas to shield them from the heavy rain.

 

Demonstrators are seeking complete withdrawal of the extradition bill, a halt to descriptions of the protests as ‘rioting’, a waiver of charges against those arrested, an independent inquiry and resumption of political reform.

 

They have also called for the resignation Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed leader, Carrie Lam.

 

“When we were young, we didn’t think about it. But my son tells me: After 2047, what will happen to me?,” said a history teacher named Mrs. Poon, referring to the year when the 50-year agreement enshrining Hong Kong’s separate system will lapse.

 

“I will come again and again and again. We do not know how any of this is going to end. We will still fight,” she said.

 

 

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