The action was planned to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the"Baltic Way," a historically significant peaceful demonstration against Soviet occupation. On August 23, 1989, an estimated two million people formed a 600 kilometer long human chain across the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The human chain is one of several events planned in what will be the 12th consecutive weekend of protests in the semi-autonomous Chinese city. Also planned are protests in Kwun Tong, in Kowloon, on Saturday and others in Tseun Wan and Kwai Ching districts on Sunday. The demonstration was widely viewed as a test of the movement's durability following weeks of escalating violence between police and protesters. It followed ugly scenes at the city's airport, when a group of protesters detained and beat two men they accused of being undercover police officers, and violently clashed with riot police.
Calling the tactic"a kind of psychological war" police officials said they had arrested 16 people on suspicion of disclosing personal data without consent and causing harm, and unauthorized access to a computer.