Protesters block the street during a demonstration demanding Hong Kong's leader to step down and withdraw the extradition bill, in Hong Kong, China on June 16, 2019.
Critics fear the Beijing-backed law will entangle people in China's notoriously opaque and politicised courts and damage the city's reputation as a safe business hub.Although Lam, a pro-Beijing appointee, offered a rare concession on Saturday, she stopped short of committing to permanently scrapping the unpopular law.
"The police should not use rubber bullets, tear gas, and bean bag rounds to deal with the students," protester Ben Choi told AFP. Huge queues formed outside the high-end Pacific Place mall with flowers and written tributes piling up as demonstrators paid their respects. Lam's decision to ignore those warnings, and press ahead with the bill even after last weekend's massive rally, has placed her administration under pressure from both her opponents and her own allies.
Estimates of Sunday's crowd size will not be available until the evening but huge amounts of people were still joining the start four hours after the rally set off.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam apologises for the way her administration tried to pass a law allowing extraditions to China