Hong Kong protests cross half-year mark with rally

Marchers are again expected to fill Hong Kong streets in a rally Sunday that will test the enduring appeal of the city’s protest movement marking a half year of demonstrations.

Police granted approval for the march, which could boost participant numbers.

The rally was called by the Civil Human Rights Front, a group that has organized some of the biggest demonstrations since hundreds of thousands of protesters first marched on June 9.

That rally protested now-withdrawn government proposals that would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent for trial in Communist Party-controlled courts in mainland China.

The movement has snowballed from there into a sustained challenge to the government of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory and communist leaders in Beijing.