Resist Tyranny, Welcome the Dawn – Rally
- Project
- EXH-005
- Location
- Tamar Park, Admiralty, Hong Kong
- Date
- 28 September 2019
- Partners
- Civil Human Rights Front
The "Resist Tyranny, Welcome the Dawn" rally was the eighth major assembly organized by the Civil Human Rights Front against the extradition bill amendments. Held on 28 September 2019 — the fifth anniversary of the police teargas dispersal that defined the 2014 Umbrella Movement — the rally was themed around that history and the ongoing struggle for Hong Kong's freedoms. Between 200,000 and 300,000 people attended.
By 7pm, Tamar Park was packed. Attendees filled the grass and waved phone torches in the night air as anti-amendment music played, chanting "Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times." A banner reading "WE ARE BACK" hung from a footbridge at Pacific Place — deliberately echoing 2014, when tens of thousands had returned to reclaim Harcourt Road after the teargas. Banners reading "I Love Democracy" and "Fight for Freedom" stretched from footbridges across the area.
At around 7pm, protesters at the Pacific Place footbridge kicked iron gates and shone laser pointers at officers. Police broadcast warnings, raised a red flag, and discharged pepper spray toward the crowd. Several journalists covering the scene were hit. Thousands then occupied Harcourt Road, closing six lanes between Central and Causeway Bay. A police helicopter circled overhead.
At 7:50pm, officers stationed at the Government Headquarters deployed pepper spray against demonstrators outside the building, raised a red flag, and warned of force. Protesters responded with bricks. Over the next hour, police used pepper-infused water cannons against the crowd; demonstrators formed umbrella shield formations and threw debris. A Chinese national flag was burned near the scene. At approximately 8:30pm, the CHRF announced the rally would end half an hour ahead of schedule, at the urging of police.
Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, one of the rally's founders, addressed the crowd: "Five years ago, we spoke of a civic awakening — a movement to help people feel the helplessness of the years since the handover. Five years on, our young people have broken through that. I see their tenacity and their courage. When I see them beaten, injured, bleeding, I feel pain — but their persistence, their fight, is without fear. That is what we had hoped for."
CHRF convenor Jimmy Sham described the rally as a link between the Umbrella Movement and the present: without that history, he said, two million people would not have taken to the streets this year. He also warned that, ahead of China's National Day on 1 October, police might use the opportunity to conduct mass arrests and deter turnout.
After the rally, police conducted extensive stop-and-search operations. Officers on Hong Kong Island photographed passengers on cross-harbour buses and trams one by one. At 10pm, riot police at Eagle Centre in Wan Chai stopped multiple buses and ordered all passengers to disembark for searches. Officers also searched buses at the Cross-Harbour Tunnel's Kowloon exit. Many who attended described the atmosphere as one of white terror. Near the Legislative Council building, at least twenty panes of glass were smashed by protesters. Water cannon vehicles deployed blue dye, and tear gas was later fired.
Across the harbour in Kwai Chung, residents gathered at a separate commemorative event with screens showing anniversary footage of the Umbrella Movement. The crowds dispersed gradually by 9:30pm.