Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Hong Kong here on Thursday in a New Year's Day rally calling for a swift transition to full democracy in the former British colony, organisers said.
With calls of "Return political power to the people" and demands for direct elections for the city's rulers, demonstrators estimated that 100,000 people marched from Victoria Park to the Government headquarters in the Central business district.
Police declined to provide an estimate.
Richard Tsoi, a spokesman for rally organisers the Civil Human Rights Front said the large turnout was proof the desire for political reform among the city's 6.8 million people remained strong after huge protests last July.
"Although the turnout was lower than last July, it still clearly shows that Hong Kong people want political reform, they want full democracy and they want universal suffrage to elect the next Chief Executive," said Tsoi.
Tsoi warned more massive protests would follow unless the government bowed to public demands, starting with rallies to coincide with Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's Policy Address next Wednesday.
Thursday's march was the first major demonstration of pro-democracy sentiment since a spate of huge protests in July plunged Hong Kong into a political crisis.
A massive July 1 protest last year saw more than 500,000 people take to the streets to denounce a Beijing-backed security bill, which critics said would impinge on basic rights and freedoms, and demand democratic reforms.
The rally was followed by two smaller protests, which ultimately led to the resignation of two senior ministers and forced the city's China-backed Tung to withdraw the bill indefinitely.
One protester, James Tang, 37, a legal assistant, said: "They (the government) are making promises they don't intend to keep and we don't believe them anymore. We have to fight for our rights. We have to fight for democracy."
A government spokesman said in a statement the administration would "listen carefully" to the views and aspirations of the public.
"It is the clear duty of the government to pursue democratic advancement in accordance with the Basic Law. The government will use the three years to address the issues of constitutional development after 2007. We will start listening and collecting public views as soon as possible," he added.
Pro-democracy groups in Hong Kong are demanding the government and Beijing commit to a firm timetable for implementing political reforms, including direct elections of Hong Kong's next leader by 2007.
Tung has pledged to start discussions on constitutional change early this year.
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China ruled by its own largely autonomous government.
Comments
Comments are closed.