Candidates Plan Victoria Park Rally To Skirt Ban

A group of pro-democracy district council candidates said on Friday that they will hold separate election campaigns in Victoria Park from 3pm on Saturday, in an apparent bid to skirt the need for police permission to hold a mass rally.

The candidates said they don’t need police approval for their campaign meetings, if each of them meets fewer than 50 people at a time. The group said more than 100 candidates plan to join the event.

This comes as the police banned an anti-government rally planned at Victoria Park on Saturday, that was to call for international support for Hong Kong's autonomy.

Two evening rallies – in Edinburgh Place and Chater Garden in Central – have been given police permission and are scheduled to start two hours after the Victoria Park event.

One of the organisers, Ventus Lau, said they would try to keep things peaceful.

“If the police force or even the MTR cooperate together to suppress the right to express our ideas peacefully in Central area, I think the action will be focused by the spotlight of the international society,” he said.