Number of participants in July 1 rallies
Government figures
Organisers’ figures
500,000
400,000
Largest
discrepancy
300,000
353,000
200,000
100,000
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2019
Source: Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies
Hong Kong has never experienced a fully democratic government but that has not stopped people trying to make themselves heard.
AP Photo/Vincent Yu
Public protests in Hong Kong date back to British colonial rule and have evolved from the bloody riots of the 1960s into the recent protests of up to two million people marching.
This year, in stark contrast to the usually peaceful demonstrations held to coincide with the July 1 anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China, a separate group of activists stormed the Legislative Council parliament building. There they trashed the chambers in protest over an extradition bill which they feared would make people in Hong Kong subject to China’s legal system.
Prior to this, Hong Kong protests captured the world’s imagination with viral videos of students blockading roads in Admiralty district while doing their homework during the pro-democracy ‘umbrella movement’ in 2014, and, more recently, a video of demonstrators parting like the Red Sea to let an ambulance pass.
Large-scale protests have been held on July 1 every year since 2003. The anniversary of the handover has become an annual opportunity to vent disaffection with the government and call for increased democracy and other political causes. This year’s was the largest to date and involved atypical scenes of chaos and vandalism.
Number of participants in July 1 rallies
Government figures
Organisers’ figures
500,000
400,000
Largest
discrepancy
300,000
353,000
200,000
100,000
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2019
Source: Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies
The Public Order Ordinance, which regulates public meetings and processions, was first enacted in 1967 to crack down on the leftist riots against British colonial rule. It outlawed any gatherings of three or more people without police permission.
In 1995 it became much more liberal following the enactment of the Bill of Rights Ordinance, based on the United Nations' International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Since 1997, public gatherings of more than 50 people or processions with more than 30 protesters have to tell police seven days in advance and receive a "notice of no objection".
Number of public order events since 1986
12000
2016
(Processions and meetings)
13,158
9000
6000
3000
n/a
n/a
1986
1991
1996
2000
2005
2010
2015
Source: Royal Hong Kong Police, Hong Kong Police
Click on the dots to explore our 53 year timeline of protests that helped define Hong Kong.
Click on the arrows to explore our 53 year timeline of protests that helped define Hong Kong.
The catalyst for the current protests was the Hong Kong government’s decision to amend the current Fugitive Offenders Ordinance on the pretext of the ongoing Chan Tong-kai case. Chan is accused of murdering his girlfriend in Taipei but cannot be extradited to stand trial in Taiwan because the law does not allow Hong Kong to transfer fugitives to mainland China and Taiwan.
Protesters storm the Legislative Council building while police watch on.
On June 16 up to two million citizens took to the streets to protest against the amendment bill, which they believe would destroy the firewall between Hong Kong and the mainland, where fair trials are not guaranteed. Opponents range from pan-democrats, lawyers and businessmen to major foreign countries such as the United States and Britain. Critics argue that Hongkongers, or visitors in the city, could be victimised for political reasons, or be prosecuted for crimes committed inadvertently.
In response to the massive demonstrations on June 9 and 16, the Hong Kong government suspended the extradition bill with no time frame for its reintroduction but maintains the legislation's intention to plug the legal loopholes is still valid. (June 15)
Mind the gap
A comparison between crowd sizes according to organisers
and police
March 31
April 28
June 9
June 16
July 1
Organisers
12,000
130,000
1,030,000
2,000,000
550,000
Police
5,200
22,800
240,000
338,000
190,000
Percentage difference
-56%
-65%
-77%
-82%
-83%
The success or failure of a protest is hard to measure since some events form part of a larger movement that may affect change further down the line. The idea in the following graph however, is to visualise how many of these protests achieved their goals in the immediate aftermath.
FAILURE
SUCCESS
Star Ferry ticket price increase
1966
Hong Kong leftist riots
1967
Teachers’ strike
1973
"Golden Jubilee" incident
1978
Article 23 anti-subversion
legislation
2003
Save star ferry pier
2007
Wedding Card street
The anti-Express
Rail Link Movement
2010
Anti-moral and national
education protest
2012
Dock workers strike
2013
Umbrella movement
2014
2019
Anti-extradition Law protests: Not yet determined
The graph below shows the Public Opinion Programme survey conducted by the University of Hong Kong from 1997 to 2019. In the phone survey, respondents are asked to evaluate the extent of the freedom of procession and demonstration in Hong Kong: 10 indicates absolute freedom, 0 indicates absolute lack of freedom. The markers indicate ratings when significant events/protests took place.
10 indicates absolute freedom
December 2009
7.85
8
Anti extradition
bill demonstrations
1st July
rally (2003)
7.33
7.17
7
Protest against Moral and National Education
Occupy
Central
SARS
outbreak
6.70
6.41
6.15
6
2000
2005
2010
2015
2020
0 indicates absolute lack
of freedom
The sample size of these surveys is at least 500
Sources: Public Opinion Programme, HKU
In the anti-extradition bill campaign, protesters have developed a guerrilla-style movement in addition to the traditional marches. Without clear leadership, activists discussed strategy on popular online forum LIHKG and co-ordinated through the encrypted messaging app Telegram. Instead of staging mass sit-ins they now moved quickly from one place to another. On June 21 protesters “picnicked” outside the government headquarters in the morning, moved on to block entrances to other government department buildings in the afternoon, and besieged the police headquarters in the evening. This contrasts with the mass sit-ins of the Umbrella Movement which ended with a robust backlash when the public tired of the constant inconvenience.
Click on different parts of the 2019 protester’s body to see how the protester’s gear differs from 2014’s Occupy activist
Click on the year to see how the protester’s gear differs from 2014’s Occupy activist
For the purposes of this graphic we assume five people can comfortably squeeze into one square metre. Using this measurement we estimate the number of football pitches (in this case a 100m long by 64m wide football pitch) various protests would need to fit all the protesters.
Hong Kong’s protests have been led by a diverse range of people, from church leaders to students, to lawyers and businessmen. Explore the gallery below to learn a little more about some of these characters.
A key figure in the 2011 Anti-National Education protest and 2014 Umbrella Movement, Wong was seen by many as the poster boy for the Hong Kong student movement. Wong is currently secretary of the liberal political party Demosisto, founded in 2016. Recently imprisoned for failing to comply with a court order for clearance of the Mong Kok protest.
Chow was an influential organiser and speaker in the early stages of Occupy Central and was convicted for incitement of unlawful assembly in 2016. After initially being sentenced to three weeks' imprisonment, Chow’s term was later increased to seven months on appeal to the High Court by the government. Chow began a master's degree at the London School of Economics in 2016.
Journalist and activist-turned-lawmaker, Chu inspired the demonstrations against the demolition of the Edinburgh Place Ferry Pier and Queen’s Pier in 2006 and 2007. He is also the key person behind the anti-express rail link movement.
The associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong initiated the Occupy Central with Love and Peace campaign in January 2013, demanding universal suffrage by "international standards" for the 2017 Chief Executive election and 2020 Legislative Council Elections. In April 2019, Tai was found guilty of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance and inciting others to cause public nuisance and was sent to jail for 16 months.
An associate professor of Sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Chan was one of the founders of the Occupy Central movement demanding universal suffrage in Hong Kong. Before that, he studied social movements and worked closely with non-government organisations on the mainland. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison for his participation in the 2014 movement.
A veteran unionist, former lawmaker and general secretary of the Confederation of Trade Unions, Lee collected donations in Hong Kong for the student-led Tiananmen Square protest and travelled to Beijing to hand over the funds to student protesters. Detained by authorities in Beijing, Lee was made to sign a confession letter before being allowed to return home. Lee was one of the leaders in the 2013 dock workers' strike
Also known as “Long Hair”, Leung is a social activist, former lawmaker, and co-founder of the League of Social Democrats, of which he was the chairman from 2012 to 2016. He has been imprisoned for short periods on several occasions for protests during Legco sessions and other incidents. Leung served as a member of the Legislative Council until July 14, 2017, when his oath that deviated from the standard script was invalidated and his seat vacated.
Hong Kong filmmaker John Sham Kin-fun was barred from the mainland for 15 years because of his high-profile role in mobilising more than 300,000 people to attend the Concert for Democracy in China at the Happy Valley Racecourse on May 27, a week before the Tiananmen crackdown. In 2004, Beijing allowed him to return to China and he now runs the mainland’s second-biggest chain of movie theatres.
Minister of the Chai Wan Baptist Church and one of the founders of Occupy Central, Chu actively took part in the Yellow Bird operation to help dissidents flee from the Chinese regime after the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989. He was sentenced to two years in prison in 2019 but his sentence was suspended for two years due to his state of health and his years of contribution to society.
Zen served as bishop of Hong Kong and was made a cardinal in 2002 until he retired in 2009. He is known for speaking out in defence of human rights and religious freedom, as well as calling on the Chinese government to let the Chinese people freely discuss the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. He opposed the anti-subversion law in 2003 and led the July 1 protests in 2007. Zen has received harsh criticism from the Chinese Communist Party.
A former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong and the founding chairman of the Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union as well as the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China. Szeto spearheaded the territory-wide teachers' strike in 1973 and played a major role in gathering public support for the Tiananmen democracy movement and Operation Yellow Bird.
Yeung served as Federation of Trade Unions chairman from 1962 and president between 1980 and 1988. A local deputy to the National People's Congress, Yeung served as director of the Anti-British Struggle during the 1967 riots. Yeung was awarded the city’s top honour, the Grand Bauhinia Medal in 2001 for his "outstanding contribution [and] dedicated community service".
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