Thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators joined an annual march in Hong Kong on January 1, 2019, calling for political reform and protesting what they described as shrinking freedoms in the city.
Dozens of pro-independence activists also showed up at the event, including members of the Hong Kong National Front. The group claims its office was broken into on New Year’s Eve, and its spokesman Baggio Leung Chung-hang said masked men had been following fellow activists.
Pro-Beijing activists meanwhile held a separate rally nearby, where they shouted slogans denouncing the pro-independence camp.
(Photo: SCMP’s Sam Tsang)
