Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Toronto on Sunday afternoon, holding large posters and chanting in unison: “Free Hong Kong!”

The rally and march, which started in front of the Hudson’s Bay Centre in the downtown core on Bloor St., was one in a series of pro-democracy demonstrations across the world as tensions continue to escalate following weeks of mass protests in Hong Kong.

At the heart of the unrest lies the backlash against a controversial Hong Kong extradition bill, affecting an estimated 300,000 Canadian citizens currently living in Hong Kong, according to a 2016 Census.

Under the proposed bill, the Chinese government can effectively ask Hong Kong to hand over anyone alleged of a crime who sets foot in the city, be it a foreign tourist or city resident.

Since its introduction in February, lawyers, business groups and government officials from China and across the world have criticized the bill for further eroding Hong Kong’s legal system, which was intended to be a “one country, two systems” setup after it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Sunday’s demonstration was the first in Toronto since a couple small sit-ins in early June, organized by members of the Canada-Hong Kong Link (CHKLink).

“This is very much a Canadian problem,” CHKLink president Gloria Fung told the Star.

Fung spoke to the crowd, some dressed in all black with symbolic yellow umbrellas, with a microphone in English and Cantonese.

More than 200,000 immigrants from Hong Kong live in Canada, according to a 2016 Census. “That’s what makes this a Toronto problem, too, with such a large Hong Konger population,” Fung said, who estimated more than 600 people showed up for the rally.

“The large crowd gathered today on this long weekend with the heat, decided to be here because this matters to them and affects them directly,” she added. “We must help free people back home from this horrible tyranny by the Chinese government because they keep wanting more power, completely against democratic principles.”

Fellow organizer Norm Beach, 56, said protesting against the bill is especially important for Canadians in the wake of China arresting citizens Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig who, according to Global Affairs Canada, were “arbitrarily” detained for months without explanation of charges laid against them.

“I think we need to start understanding that this issue is about Chinese control,” Beach said, “and it affects us as Canadians because this is not just a fight for Hong Kong anymore — it’s about laws working against our very own citizens as well.”

Jason and Michael Lim, brothers who moved to Toronto from Hong Kong in early 2002, said they came to the rally to support their family “sadly stuck under a system that isn’t democratic like Canada.”

“We’re from there and we will always have those roots,” 62-year-old Michael said, who was marching with his sons before helping join a large mobile Lennon Wall with the crowd. “Their pain is our pain and it’s like we need to show our solidarity with them because we’re more fortunate to have been able to immigrate.”

The protest also brought out several university- and high school-aged students, including commuters from St. George Station who were “welcomed with open arms, pamphlets and flyers” as they walked nearby.

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“I became curious because I heard Cantonese and saw so many people here, but I never would’ve thought this issue affects me as much it does, I have so much family still there even if I’ve never been myself,” said Christina Lucci Xiang, 22, on her way home. “Now I know why all those people in Hong Kong I see on TV and social media are there in such enormous crowds.”

Fung said educating people like Xiang show why demonstrations are important, adding her group plans to take to the streets in five other Canadian cities in the coming days.

“At the end of the day, we want people to know it’s an issue affecting all of us. This is not just a fight for Hong Kong, it’s for democratic rights.”

Correction — Aug. 6, 2019: This article has been edited from an earlier version that incorrectly referred to the peaceful Toronto rally as a riot.

Temur Durrani is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star's radio room in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @temurdur

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