This segment of the timeline of the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests covers the month of July 2019. The anniversary of the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China on 1 July saw large daytime protests. In the evening of that day, protesters stormed the Legislative Council Building and defaced symbols, with police only moving in after midnight. This incident, which was sharply condemned by the government of Carrie Lam, did however not lead to a split between peaceful and violent protesters. Observers linked the understanding of the non-violent protesters for the violent wing to the lack of willingness of the Lam government to engage in dialogue about the protesters' five demands. Apart from major protests on Sundays, there were also mostly peaceful demonstrations during the week.
A pattern became established such that peaceful daytime protests were followed by violent clashes between protesters and police at night. Police continued to draw criticism for its heavy-handed tactics.
A further landmark event in the evolution of the protests was the Yuen Long attack on 21 July. White-shirted gangs descended on Yuen Long station and wrought havoc in chaotic scenes, with a vast number of calls of citizens to police being unanswered until the attackers had retreated. This led to a further loss of faith of protesters and their sympathisers in the integrity of the police force, and also further worsened their views of the Hong Kong government. The government and representatives of the force would change their framing of the attack several times over the course of the following year.
Events
1 July protests
As the city marked the 22nd anniversary of its 1997 handover to China, the annual pro-democracy protest march organised by CHRF claimed a record turnout of 550,000 while police placed the estimate around 190,000; independent organisations using scientific methods calculated that participation was in the region of 250,000 people.
Early in the morning, Devil's Peak saw a white vertical protest banner with words roughly translated into "Mourning in Pain" (「痛心疾首」).
Later in the morning, the annual flag-raising ceremony outside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre was disrupted by some 200 protesters who had followed online calls. They hurled eggs, water bottles and other objects at police; some shined laser pointers at them or hit them with umbrellas.
Before the march, youths had begun besieging the Legislative Council building. The march was later diverted to Chater Road in Central due to the people amassed in front of the Legislative Council.
At around 9:00pm, hundreds of protesters stormed the legislature after breaking through the glass walls and metal doors of the building. Protesters caused extensive damage by ransacking the premises, damaging portraits of former pro-Beijing presidents of the Legislative Council, and smashing furniture. Protesters spray-painted slogans, hung up signs and erected barricades. During the occupation, 25-year-old student Brian Leung Kai-ping presented a new 10-point manifesto calling for greater freedom and democracy, and increased autonomy from Beijing.
The police started using tear gas to disperse protesters around the LegCo at 12:05am, and reached the building 15 minutes later.
Carrie Lam's passive behavior in the preceding weeks and a "lack of positive response to the public", as put by Fernando Cheung, on the part of the government were cited as reasons for the occupation and the acts of property damage; the deaths from suicide also sparked anger and desperation among the protesters. During Carrie Lam's press conference at 4:00am the following day, she acknowledged the peaceful and orderly march but strongly condemned the "violence and vandalism in the storming of the Legislative Council building". Lam evaded questions regarding recent deaths. The Hong Kong Journalists Association criticised the government for omitting the unanswered questions from the official transcript, while the Information Services Department responded that the transcript released was not a "verbatim".
After the protest, demonstrators and legislators condemned the Hong Kong police for deliberately allowing protesters to ram the glass doors and windows of the LegCo in front of cameras and television crews for hours, without any arrests or clearance. The police explained that their decision to retreat was after "considering a number of factors." By early 5 July, there had been at least 66 arrests and first formal charges laid in connection with the incident. On 13 April 2023, four defendants were sentenced for rioting at the flag-raising ceremony to between 26 and 28 months in prison.