Hong Kong protesters seek to inform tourists from mainland China

(Image credit: Billy H.C. Kwok/Getty Images)

Hong Kong's protesters are seeking a new audience for an old fight.

The city's demonstrators again gathered in the streets for their fourth mass rally in a month on Sunday — organizers said 230,000 people turned out for this iteration of the movement. This time, the demonstrators, who normally direct their rallies toward Hong Kong's government and police force, marched through shopping areas popular with tourists from mainland China before winding up at the West Kowloon station, a new high-speed rail station that connects Hong Kong with the mainland.

Protesters said the route was chosen as part of an effort to bring the rallies to the attention of mainlanders visiting Hong Kong. Beijing has provided limited coverage of the protests — which were sparked by fears that Hong Kong's autonomy was eroding at the hands of Beijing, especially after the proposal of a bill that would allow extradition to the mainland — since they began, keeping China's citizens in the dark.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

"We hope they will know the truth and spread the word in mainland China," a 17-year-old student told The Wall Street Journal, referring to the tourists in the city.

Explore More

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.