Hong Kong — Hundreds of thousands of people marched in Hong Kong Thursday to demand the right to elect their own leaders and lashed 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.
“We don't want to be subservient to the central government,” said Ben Kwok, a 40-year-old factory owner. “We don't want Hong Kong to become like the mainland, where even the news gets censored.”
People took to the streets en masse, on the seventh anniversary of the handover from British to Chinese sovereignty.
Protest organizer Jackie Hung, a Roman Catholic activist, told The Associated Press that at least 350,000 people had turned out, but the crowd was still growing in the late afternoon. Earlier, a police officer said at least 90,000 people were counted in less than an hour.
“Only democracy can save Hong Kong,” said 65-year-old Cheuk Kuang, a former driver worried about Hong Kong's future generations. “The communist government is intervening too much in Hong Kong and it's trying to shut down all opposition voices.”
Marchers filled all four lanes of a major downtown thoroughfare, peacefully chanting slogans, holding up signs and waving inflatable Mr. Tung dolls as they made their way to the fenced-off Hong Kong government headquarters.
Ms. Hung, a Roman Catholic activist, told The Associated Press that at least 250,000 people had turned out, but the crowd was still growing. Earlier, a police officer told the AP that at least 90,000 people had been counted in less than an hour.
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.
Despite Beijing's ruling in April that shattered hopes for universal suffrage in the near future, many of the demonstrators said they would keep pushing for reform.
Mr. Tung and other dignitaries stood at attention as the Chinese and Hong Kong flags were solemnly raised to the sounds of the national anthem under hazy skies. Outside, a dozen activists tried to carry a mock black coffin toward the ceremony but were held back by a larger group of police.
Protesters have rankled Beijing with what it views as a provocative rallying cry: “Return power to the people.”
In Beijing, China's government defended Hong Kong's political system as “real and unprecedented democracy” and rejected criticism of its handling of the territory as foreign interference in its affairs.
“The residents of Hong Kong enjoy real and unprecedented democracy, which can be witnessed by the international community,” Foreign Minister spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told a news conference when asked to comment on the protests in Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, a mainland visitor, 30-year-old accountant Bob Zhuang, watched the early morning demonstration for a few minutes and called the activists “stupid.”
“Should such a protest really be allowed in this territory?” Zhuang asked.
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.
