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Hong Kong protesters vow huge rally despite Beijing threats [PHOTOS]

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A pro-democracy protester with his eye covered in red-eyepatch, symbolizing a women reported to have had an eye ruptured by a beanbag round fired by police during clashes, participates in a march organized by teachers in Hong Kong Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019. Members of China's paramilitary People's Armed Police marched and practiced crowd control tactics at a sports complex in Shenzhen across from Hong Kong in what some interpreted as a threat against pro-democracy protesters in the semi-autonomous territory. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
A pro-democracy protester with his eye covered in red-eyepatch, symbolizing a women reported to have had an eye ruptured by a beanbag round fired by police during clashes, participates in a march organized by teachers in Hong Kong Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019. Members of China's paramilitary People's Armed Police marched and practiced crowd control tactics at a sports complex in Shenzhen across from Hong Kong in what some interpreted as a threat against pro-democracy protesters in the semi-autonomous territory. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Hong Kong democracy activists are hoping to get out a huge crowd later Sunday in a bid to show the city's leaders that their protest movement remains defiant despite increasingly stark warnings from Beijing.

Ten weeks of demonstrations have plunged the international finance hub into crisis and communist-ruled mainland China has taken an increasingly hardline tone, including labelling the more violent protester actions "terrorist-like".

Clashes have broken out between police and hardcore protesters but the movement has won few concessions from Beijing or the city's unelected leadership.

Aerial photo shows people from all walks of life taking part in a rally to voice their opposition to violence and call for restoring social order, expressing the people's common will to protect and save the city at Tamar Park in south China's Hong Kong, Aug. 17, 2019. (Xinhua/Lui Siu Wai)/
Aerial photo shows people from all walks of life taking part in a rally to voice their opposition to violence and call for restoring social order, expressing the people's common will to protect and save the city at Tamar Park in south China's Hong Kong, Aug. 17, 2019. (Xinhua/Lui Siu Wai)/

Protesters carrying umbrellas take part in a march themed 'Recover Hung Hom' in Hong Kong, China, 17 August 2019. Hung Hom and To Kwa Wan are popular areas for low-cost travel tours from mainland China. The city braced itself for another weekend of protests demanding the full withdrawal of a now-suspended extradition bill as well as the appointment of a judge-led independent inquiry into police use of force on protesters since June. EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY
Protesters carrying umbrellas take part in a march themed 'Recover Hung Hom' in Hong Kong, China, 17 August 2019. Hung Hom and To Kwa Wan are popular areas for low-cost travel tours from mainland China. The city braced itself for another weekend of protests demanding the full withdrawal of a now-suspended extradition bill as well as the appointment of a judge-led independent inquiry into police use of force on protesters since June. EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY

A Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protester attends a rally as pro-China counter-protesters also gather nearby, in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)
A Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protester attends a rally as pro-China counter-protesters also gather nearby, in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

A protester holds up the US flag during an anti-government rally in Hong Kong, China, 16 August 2019. The goal of the rally is to drum up support from the US and UK for the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has been engulfed in protests since early June, at first to oppose the now-suspended extradition bill to China, that have developed into an anti-government movement. EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY
A protester holds up the US flag during an anti-government rally in Hong Kong, China, 16 August 2019. The goal of the rally is to drum up support from the US and UK for the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has been engulfed in protests since early June, at first to oppose the now-suspended extradition bill to China, that have developed into an anti-government movement. EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY

On Tuesday, protesters blocked passengers from boarding flights at the city's airport and later assaulted two men they accused of being Chinese spies.

The images damaged a campaign that until then had largely only targeted the police or government institutions, and prompted some soul-searching among protesters.

China's propaganda apparatus seized on the violence, with state media churning out a deluge of damning articles, pictures and videos.

State media also ran images of military personnel and armoured personnel carriers across the border in Shenzhen, prompting the United States to warn Beijing against sending in troops, which analysts say would be a reputational and economic disaster for China.

In the aftermath of Tuesday's airport chaos, some protester groups apologised and vowed to hold a huge rally on Sunday.

Billed as a "rational, non-violent" protest, it is being organised by the Civil Human Rights Front, a group that eschews confrontations with police and was the driving force behind record-breaking rallies in June and July that saw hundreds of thousands of people hit the streets.

March banned

During smaller protest marches on Saturday ? which ended without the kind of largescale clashes that have become so commonplace each weekend ? many protesters chanted "See you in Victoria Park!" as they left the streets.

The park has


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