The massive crowd took to the streets to show their unhappiness on Thursday - the seventh anniversary of the handover from British to Chinese sovereignty. Marchers filled all four lanes of a major downtown thoroughfare, peacefully chanting slogans, holding up signs and waving inflatable Tung dolls as they headed towards Hong Kong government headquarters. Organiser Jackie Hung, a Roman Catholic activist, told The Associated Press that at least 250,000 people had turned out. Earlier, a police officer said at least 90,000 people had been counted in less than an hour, but the crowd was still growing at that point. The march came on the anniversary of a protest by 500,000 people that stunned the Hong Kong and Beijing governments and forced Mr Tung to withdraw an anti-subversion bill that many had viewed as a threat to freedoms. The mood seemed less angry than it had been last year. Thousands of the protesters were busily fanning themselves in temperatures of around 34 deg C. Despite Beijing's ruling in April that shattered hopes for universal suffrage in the near future, many of the demonstrators, who came from all walks of life, said they would keep pushing for reform. Protesters have rankled Beijing with what it views as a provocative rallying cry: 'Return power to the people.' Beijing permits no political dissent in the mainland and was clearly worried about the rally. Hoping to blunt the impact, China has made conciliatory gestures recently, hinting it might allow visits to the mainland by pro-democracy lawmakers who previously have been banned and even branded as 'traitors'. Pro-democracy figures hope Thursday's march will generate momentum for September legislative elections that will let ordinary citizens choose 30 of the territory's 60 lawmakers, up from 24 four years ago. The rest are chosen by special interest groups, such as businessmen, doctors and lawyers, who tend to side with Beijing. The central and territorial governments want to avoid ending up with a legislature that won't back Mr Tung, something that hasn't happened in the seven years since Britain returned this former colony to China. -- AP |
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| Thousands march for democracy in HK The Straits Times, July 1, 2004 HONG KONG - A crowd estimated at more than 200,000 people marched on Thursday to demand universal suffrage in Hong Kong and lash out at Beijing for clamping down on the territory's democratic aspirations. Tempers have flared here since China ruled in April that ordinary citizens cannot elect the successor to their unpopular leader, Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa, in 2007 or all lawmakers in 2008. |