Hong Kong protest sees hundreds of thousands call for city’s leader to step down

It’s gone 9 p.m. (9 a.m. ET) in Hong Kong and still many of the streets are packed with protesters.

In the city’s Admiralty area, the final stop on the protest route, thousands of people continue to stream down the main street, as songs and chants fill the air.

Crowds continue to surge through Hong Kong late into Sunday night.

Many are holding their phones aloft, creating a sea of bright shining lights. The mood is jubilant, even celebratory, despite slow progress and huge crowds.

Earlier as an ambulance approached, the crowd was forced to part, squeezing onto sidewalks and huddling tightly together.

After the ambulance had successfully passed a huge cheer erupted from the crowd.

Large crowds participate in Sunday's protest march in Hong Kong.

One of the organizers of Sunday’s protest have told CNN they had “never seen such a big crowd” in Hong Kong. 

Bonnie Leung, of the Civil Human Rights Front, told CNN that her team is counting the number of people at check points around the city and an estimate is expected at 10 p.m. local time (9 a.m.ET). 

Despite the large crowds there is a relatively minimal police presence, with officers directing traffic, but no sign yet of helmets or gas masks. 

Sunday’s march has been mainly peaceful, with many families with children taking part. 

Kevin Yam, from Hong Kong’s Progressive Lawyer Group, told CNN the protest size could yet be even larger than last Sunday’s record breaking gathering – when protest organizers estimated more than a million people took to the streets. 

“If the cops have opened up many more roads than last week and all the protesters are still stuck and the train stations are still overfilled that’s a real sign,” he said.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam announcing on Saturday that the extradition bill would be suspended after protests.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam has issued a statement apologizing to the citizens of Hong Kong amid mass protests calling for her resignation.

In a statement Sunday, Lam said that she would listen to criticisms from the voters in “the most sincere and humble manner.”

Tens of thousands of protesters are still on the streets of Hong Kong calling for Lam’s resignation over her handling of the China extradition bill crisis, as well as deep resentment over her decision to call Wednesday’s protest a “riot.”

Lam said that she promised to “keep improving and serve the citizens,” acknowledging many people were angry and upset.

But it has yet to be seen if Lam’s apology will be enough for the thousands of deeply dissatisfied protesters.

Two 16-year-old students who came to the protest on Sunday said that they had come to speak up for the dozens of people who were injured in last week’s protest.

“We are coming today to fight for justice for those students that were arrested and injured,” Valerie said, asking not to give her last name.

81 people were taken to hospital with injuries after Wednesday’s clashes between police and protesters. Many signs on Sunday’s march have denounced police brutality.

“This is our spirit. We are here together we are not here for riot to express our opinion,” her friend Athena said.

Athena and Valerie hold hands at a protest on Sunday calling for Chief Executive Carrie Lam to step down.

Methodist priest Pastor Francis said he had told his congregation to come out to the protest on Sunday, helping provide food and aid to the demonstrators.

He said he holds the government accountable for hurting young protesters on Wednesday and is joining calls for Lam to step down.

Protesters use their phone torches as Hong Kong demonstrations carry on into the night on Sunday.

Protesters gather outside of the Legislative Council complex, Sunday.

Anger is on display outside the Legislative Council buildings, where a large group of protesters have gathered in front of police.

Emotions are running high following Wednesday’s violent scenes, in which as many as 5,000 riot police clashed with protesters.

Though police tonight are restrained, and not equipped with shields, security around the government complex remains tight.

Many of those arriving at the Legislative Council building are carrying large photographs of bloodied protestors from the demonstration earlier in the week.

Chants of “shameful bad police” and “shelve the evil bill” can be heard from within the crowd.

Hong Kong is a city built for business.

Seized by the British after the first Opium War ended in 1842 and used as a base for trade in drugs and other products, in the late 20th century Hong Kong became a leading global financial center and gateway to the giant Chinese economy.

The handover of the city to China in 1997, however, prompted fears that model would collapse.

Two years before that looming date, Fortune magazine ran a notorious cover warning of the “death of Hong Kong,” lamenting that the “the world’s most aggressively pro-business economy” was being handed to Communist China.

It’s a death knell that’s been repeated countless times but never come true.

Yet the controversial bill which sparked today’s protest could change this for one simple reason.

This time the challenges facing Hong Kong are seen as a direct threat to its business community.

Read more analysis here

Phone lights come out as the Hong Kong march drags on into the night.

The sun has set in Hong Kong and there is still no end in sight for the mass demonstration which is filling the city’s streets.

As the crowd passes through Wan Chai’s district, bar owners and patrons are cheering the protesters on.

Many are holding signs, and tv screens usually tuned to sports are showing live feeds of the march. There were huge cheers for one restauranteur who came onto a first floor balcony and held up a sign saying “you’ve worked hard, add oil Hong Kongers!”

The mood here is jubilant, with frequent spontaneous cheers rippling through the crowd and constant chants of “Lam resign” and “withdraw the bill.”

Protesters fill the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday.

Continued protests in Hong Kong couldn’t come at a worse time for Chinese President Xi Jinping and his government, who are still struggling with the fallout from a trade war with the United States and a faltering domestic economy.

In Chinese state media, the tone has been defiant. A spokesman for the country’s foreign ministry even blamed the US for the chaos in Hong Kong.

The reality, however, is that Beijing will be wary of the possibility that ongoing protests could damage Hong Kong’s business sector – especially at a time of growing pressure on China’s economy.

Hong Kong is allowed economic freedoms that are restricted to the rest of the country, which, tied with an unbiased court system left over from the UK colonial period, have led to many large Western businesses basing their lucrative China operations out of the city.

There is no end in sight to the trade war between the US and China after negotiations collapsed in early May and new tariffs were imposed by both sides on hundreds of billions of dollars of exports.

The Chinese government maintains it is not afraid of a trade war but there are already signs that the economy is continuing to slow.

As more US businesses begin to look at investments outside of China, Hong Kong’s role as the country’s most economically liberal city is more important than ever.

Read more analysis here.

With the hugely controversial China extradition bill suspended indefinitely on Saturday, many wondered if last week’s demonstrations had achieved their purpose.

But for protesters and organizers alike, the battle was far from over.

Here are some of the reasons why the streets of Hong Kong are packed once again today:

In over five years of covering protest marches in Hong Kong, I have never seen one take over as much of the city as today’s has.

The crowd in Wan Chai has spread across over four blocks, moving like a huge black mass towards Admiralty, chanting “withdraw” and “resign” as they go.

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam has said the extradition bill was her policy and driven by her administration, rather than Beijing.

The pressure for her to go after this will be immense.