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Hong Kong Civil Servants to Rally, as Wave of Protests Planned

Reuters

   HONG KONG - Thousands of Hong Kong civil servants are planning to rally
   Friday night in support of protesters and to urge authorities to
   rebuild confidence in the government as escalating protests rock the
   Asian financial hub.

   Hong Kong police said Friday they had arrested eight people, including
   a leading pro-independence leader, after seizing weapons and suspected
   bomb-making material in a raid.

   A wave of protests are planned across Hong Kong this weekend, as well
   as a strike that could bring the city to a standstill.

   The protests in Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to
   China in 1997, pose one of the gravest populist challenges to Communist
   Party rulers in Beijing.

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