(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong police will ban a protest planned for Saturday by the organizer of previous historic mass marches due to safety concerns after violence flared at rallies last weekend, the South China Morning Post reported, citing an unidentified police source.

Police believe approving the Civil Human Rights Front’s latest march would be too risky after a new round of clashes between officers and protesters, the paper said. The move could trigger further unrest as the rally was planned for the fifth anniversary of China’s introduction of an electoral reform package that would have restricted democratic freedoms and was later rejected by Hong Kong, the SCMP said.

“If it’s banned, it’s not justified as it’s a basic right to march,” Bonnie Leung, the group’s vice-convener, told Bloomberg News on Thursday. She said police hadn’t informed CHRF of a ban, and that it would wait for authorities to specify any conditions they may impose on the day before coming up with alternative plans.

A spokesman for Hong Kong’s police didn’t immediately comment.

Timeline: How Months of Protests Have Unfolded in Hong Kong

The march has been planned to start at centrally located Chater Garden and continue on to China’s liaison office in the city, where Hong Kong’s police and Beijing have drawn their sharpest line after a previous demonstration saw protesters deface the national emblem. Hong Kong’s former leader Leung Chun-ying is promoting a website offering crowd-funded cash bounties to identify protesters who have perpetrated vandalism, including HK$1 million ($127,000) for the person who splashed black paint on the emblem.

A ban on the march could fuel protesters’ calls for a two-day general strike to be held Monday if the government didn’t concede to its major demands by Saturday, the SCMP said.

Why Hong Kong’s Still Protesting and Where It May Go: QuickTake

The CHRF has organized three record-breaking peaceful marches over 12 straight weeks of protests, including the June 9 rally against legislation easing extraditions to China that triggered what’s morphed into a broader movement against Beijing’s tightening grip over the city. The group said each march brought more than 1 million people onto the streets, while police estimates are lower, in the hundreds of thousands.

Its latest march would come after a weekend that began with the formation of a peaceful human chain across the city and culminated two days later with police firing a weapon and using water cannons for the first time.

Officers fired tear gas, rubber bullets and bean bag rounds at protesters who threw bricks and petrol bombs in the Tsuen Wan area of the New Territories and charged police with metal poles. Police said 86 people were arrested for alleged offenses including unlawful assembly, possession of weapons and assaulting officers.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sheryl Tian Tong Lee in Hong Kong at slee1905@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Karen Leigh, Jon Herskovitz

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