we're here in the center of Hong Kong
it's about 11 o'clock on Sunday evening
and we're witnessing and demonstration
that the organizers say is involving
about 1.7 million people this makes this
one of the biggest demonstrations that
we've seen since the cycle of protest
here began about 10 weeks ago but the
unusual thing about tonight is that this
has been an entirely peaceful protest
we've seen no evidence of tear gas no
evidence of clashes between protesters
and police and this also represents a
show of defiance against Beijing because
in recent days China has been ramping up
the rhetoric against Hong Kong it's been
showing videos of troop movements on the
mainland border with Hong Kong and
criticizing the demonstrators here as
terrorists and rioters and saying that
they lack a sense of patriotism the
other aspect about tonight's
demonstration is that this is officially
illegal the authorities in Hong Kong had
said the demonstrators could collect in
Victoria Park but they said that these
roads in the center of Hong Kong would
remain off limits to demonstrators and
so it is been surprising that we haven't
seen any evidence of police moving in
here to clear away the crowds this I
think puts pressure on Beijing to try to
find a new way to end what appears to be
an intractable standoff now between the
demonstrators in Hong Kong and the will
of the mandarins in Beijing