Circulation and tension in Hong Kong for a massive demonstration in a "Chinese" station

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated Sunday in Hong Kong in front of a controversial station where high-speed trains leave for mainland China to keep up the pressure on the local government near Beijing.

One of the organizers, Ventus Lau Wing-hong, estimated the number of protesters to be more than 230,000. The police at his side gave a figure of 56,000 people. The mobilization continued at night.

This is the first major protest act since the attack on the Hong Kong Parliament on July 1 by masked protesters, mostly young people.

For weeks, the international financial center is the theater of huge demonstrations triggered by a bill authorizes extradition to China. The text was removed but it was not enough. The movement has grown to demand democratic reforms and that stop the erosion of freedoms in the semi-autonomous territory.

Thousands of people marched through the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui, a district frequented by Chinese tourists, on the mainland of Hong Kong.
According to the demonstrators, the concentration seeks to explain the movement to the mainland Chinese.

In China, information comes up against the "big computer wall". The Hong Kong demonstrations are presented in the form violent and orchestrated from abroad to destabilize China, not like a mbadive popular movement against Beijing's growing influence on the territory.

"We want to show tourists, including tourists from mainland China, what is happening in Hong Kong and hope that they can bring this concept to China," he said. AFP Eddison Ng, 18 years old.

The demonstrations claim the total cancellation of the extradition project, an independent investigation into police actions, amnesty for detainees and resignation of Hong Kong's head of government, Carrie Lam, near Beijing.

Supporting the authorities, China has called for a criminal investigation of violent protesters. In an interview with the BBC, the Chinese ambbadador to London said the text on extraditions was needed to "fill a legal void" and claimed to have "full confidence in the Hong Kong government".

The protesters arrived at West Kowloon Station, which opened in September, to connect Hong Kong to China's high-speed rail network.

The glbad and steel complex was virtually shut down by police, who feared outbreaks of violence despite the fact that several protesters vowed to demonstrate peacefully. Only pbadengers with tickets can enter and the sale of new tickets is suspended.

Opponents view the station as a "Trojan horse" because China applies some of its rules in some areas. Immigration and customs services are present, and Beijing is also responsible for the platforms, although West Kowloon is miles away from the border to the north.

Police authorized the meeting, but called for calm, noting that calls for violence on social media had been launched.

One country, two systems

Despite the transfer of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to China 22 years ago, the territory is still managed under an agreement called "a country, two systems", which allows Hong Kong enjoy the freedoms rarely seen in mainland China, as the expression. Many believe that these rights are under threat.

These fears have been heightened in recent years by the disqualification of opposition MPs, the expulsion of a foreign journalist and the prison sentences imposed on the leaders of the democracy movement.

Beijing also refused to allow the election of the head of the Hong Kong government by universal suffrage, as demanded by protesters in 2014.