Noon Protests Continue In Central Area

Around a hundred protesters demonstrated at the Landmark in Central during lunchtime on Friday, saying they want to remind the public that “police brutality” has not stopped because of the coronavirus.

The protesters chanted slogans and belted out songs while security staff at the mall held up a notice reminding participants to keep one-and-a-half metres apart.

Placards calling for the WHO to allow Taiwan to attend the World Health Assembly were also displayed by protesters.

The police was present outside the mall but they did not enter the complex, and the protest ended peacefully.

A protester surnamed Chan said she thinks the government is using whatever method they can think of to stop the pro-democracy movement from moving forward.

“I think all these new regulations preventing people from gathering are just excuses to stop people from coming out, because this movement has died down a bit because of the Wuhan virus situation," said Chan, who works in the legal sector.

"This is just an excuse to prevent people from coming out and basically suppress our freedom of speech.”

But the protester said she is confident about the future.

“I think we are in a pretty good position given the past district council [election] you can see the result... hopefully we're in the good position in September,” she said, referring to the upcoming Legco elections.

Some protest organisers also gave out face masks to passers-by. One of the protesters, a student, said she doesn’t like the free reusable masks being given out by the government as it “looked like bras”.

Simon, a protester who said he works in the IT sector, said experts he asked said that the masks were not up to the mark.

He also said he wants more international attention on what's happening in Hong Kong.