Hong Kong protesters use ‘guerilla tactics’, clashing with police and unleashing more chaos – all the way from Sai Wan to Causeway Bay
- March at times appears directionless, but protesters say splitting the main body was trick to deplete police resources
- Protest movement appears to change targets – from the hated extradition bill to the Hong Kong government
Hong Kong’s young protesters changed tactics on Sunday as they turned a rally in Central into a 6km multipronged march all the way from Sai Wan to Causeway Bay.
Tens of thousands of protesters on Sunday defied a police ban for the second consecutive day and occupied major thoroughfares on Hong Kong Island. A day earlier, an estimated 280,000 Hongkongers joined a march in Yuen Long that ended in violence, tear gas and more chaos.
The police had earlier turned down a request to hold a march from Central to Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park in Sai Ying Pun over fears of violence. Instead, the authorities allowed protesters to hold a rally at Chater Garden in Central.
Soon after the rally started at 3pm, however, thousands left the authorised zone, spilled out onto Chater Road and advanced towards Admiralty along Queensway with no clear destination.
Some protest leaders suggested marching to North Point, but the marchers – at about 4.30pm – stopped at Causeway Bay, one of Hong Kong’s most popular shopping districts, where they began erecting barricades by dismantling metal railings.
