Organisers hope fresh protest will put international pressure on Beijing and Chief Executive Carrie Lam to completely withdraw the bill
The anti-extradition bill protesters filled up Edinburgh Place by 8.15pm.The Civil Human Rights Front, the leading organisers of three large scale anti-extradition bill protests earlier this month, will hold a rally at 8pm on tonight at Edinburgh Place in Central. The “G20 Free Hong Kong” assembly will take place a day before US leader Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan.
The Front is hoping to use the protest to spur the international community into putting pressure on Xi and Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam to respond to citizens’ demands regarding the extradition bill.
Follow our live updates below to keep up with what’s happening today.
This concludes the live updates of tonight's mass rally. Join us tomorrow for more on the ongoing events.
[UPDATE - Wednesday, 10.03pm]
On messaging app Telegram, there are unconfirmed plans to head to Admiralty and to police headquarters in Wan Chai. Some protesters have used megaphones to urge participants to surround Police HQ and to stay until tomorrow morning.
[UPDATE - Wednesday, 9.47pm]
Civil Human Right Front convenor Jimmy Sham states that Hongkongers are the owners of Hong Kong and should continue to protest against the extradition bill. He asks the current participants to decide for themselves whether to go to 'picnic' or not after the event, and says the permit they have applied for expires at 11.59pm. He also asks citizens to join the July 1 march.
[UPDATE - Wednesday, 9.43pm]
As an end to today's assembly, the crowd sings Do You Hear the People Sing from Les Miserables.
[UPDATE - Wednesday, 9.39pm]
Protesters were asked to turn on the flash LEDs of their mobile phones in a show of solidarity, as the final reading of the manifesto is completed in Cantonese.
[UPDATE - Wednesday, 9.32pm]
Via Real Hong Kong News, hacker group Anonymous has published details of more than 500 police officers (including name, phone number and address) online for the alleged excessive use of force exercised by the police during the June 12 protest.
[UPDATE - Wednesday, 9.23pm]
The crowd is listening intently as the manifesto for tonight's event is continuing to be read in different languages.
[UPDATE - Wednesday, 9.17pm]
[UPDATE - Wednesday, 8.55pm]
Protesters are reading a manifesto they have drawn up for tonight's assembly in different languages.
[UPDATE - Wednesday, 8.33pm]
[UPDATE - Wednesday, 8.19pm]
Some protesters are holding up signs that say, "Free Hong Kong, Democracy Now".
[UPDATE - Wednesday, 8.15pm]
Because Edinburgh Place is already mostly full, organisers has suggested to citizens hoping to join the rally head to the carpark between the post office headquarters and City Hall. Crowds are expanding toward IFC.
[UPDATE - Wednesday, 7.58pm]
Central MTR station is packed with people walking in the direction of Edinburgh Place.
[UPDATE - Wednesday, 7.50pm]
[UPDATE - Wednesday, 7.21pm]
Via SCMP, the Junior Police Officers Association has released a statement which says if medical staff are so unhappy with the police actions in hospitals over the extradition bill, they should consider removing all police posts from public hospitals.
Our live reporting team tonight is Nicola Chan, Kelly Ho and Kelly Fung