Protest March Could Hit 500,000: Organiser

The organiser of Sunday's demonstration against controversial new extradition legislation said on Friday that he believes the turnout could reach 500,000 - which would be similar that of the July 1 rally in 2003.

In 2003, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets to voice their anger against a controversial proposed national security law. It marked the biggest rally in the SAR since its return to Beijing's rule in 1997.

Jimmy Sham, the convenor of Civil Human Rights Front, says he believes the current strong public feeling about the bill would translate into a high turnout on Sunday.

He stressed that he didn't know of any participants or groups that planned to escalate their action during or after the rally - and said he expects protest to be peaceful.

Despite expectations of a large turnout on Sunday, police have defended their decision to let protesters use only three out of six traffic lanes for the march from Victoria Park to Tamar.

Police have also warned people planning to join the mass protest not to do anything illegal, saying they had noticed some calls online for radical action.

The government's contentious legislation has sparked alarm both in Hong Kong and overseas.

Hundreds of lawyers on Thursday held a rare protest march against the government's plan to amend extradition laws to allow the surrender of fugitives to other jurisdictions, including the mainland. This kind of protest by lawyers in Hong Kong is a rare event and has happened only five times since the city came under Chinese rule in 1997.