Pro-police Groups Rally In Central

Pro-establishment groups staged a rally in support of the police in Central on Saturday night under the slogan "Support Hong Kong Police Force, Blessing to Hong Kong".

A crowd estimated at several hundred people gathered in Chater Garden to hear speakers including pro-Beijing lawmaker Priscilla Leung and pro-police campaigner Leticia Lee.

The rally took place a day after anti-extradition campaigners surrounded police headquarters in Wan Chai for much of the day to press for demands including the release without charge of people arrested in protests on June 12 and an independent inquiry into policing that day.

On Saturday, the pro-police demonstrators chanted slogans in support of the police's actions that day. Some placed white flowers which they said were in memory of a Hong Kong woman who was murdered in Taiwan, allegedly by her Hong Kong boyfriend.

That case was used by the administration to push its attempt to change the extradition law to allow for the rendition of fugitives to any jurisdiction on an ad hoc basis. The amendment was suspended after weeks of mass protests.