Crowds gathered in Victoria Park in the afternoon, many carrying yellow umbrellas – a symbol of the democracy movement – before marching to the government’s offices in central Hong Kong.
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Freedom of speech needs to grow, said protesters, and universal suffrage is in peril.
China for past years tend to keep eloquent rather than their western counterparts thus doomed their excess savings into the real estate market and presently that the housing market has cooled, investors are turning to stocks.
More than 400,000 people took to the streets of Hong Kong on Wednesday in a now-traditional mass rally on the anniversary of the city’s 1997 handover to Chinese rule, calling for political reform and for amendments to the city’s constitution, organizers said.
“Since the political reform package was voted down, it is clear that we have reached a political impasse”, Ho told RFA ahead of the march.
Campaigners dismissed the reforms as offering only “fake democracy”.
In addition to China’s reluctance to accept democracy in Hong Kong, other recent actions linked to Beijing have raised concerns in Washington.
Even if there had not been the walkout, the electoral plan would not have been approved because pro-democracy legislators had the numbers to block a two-thirds majority.
Indeed, until the walkout, it looked like the establishment’s plan to manipulate at least some of the pan-democrats into voting for the proposed reforms was working.
One of Wednesday’s highlights is an open day at the barracks of the People’s Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison at Shek Kong and on Stonecutters Island, which is aimed at strengthening communication between the garrison and local residents.
Meanwhile, social movements such as Scholarism have dominated the democratisation debate and effectively monopolised support for the pan-democratic parties – making any party or individual who opts for a compromise unelectable.
President Obama has declined to publicly criticize China’s proposal for elections in Hong Kong, saying last year in Beijing that, “these are issues ultimately for the people of Hong Kong and the people of China to decide”.
Police lined the route of the protest, held on a public holiday marking the anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997.
“Now, they have cast their restrictions far wider”.
Lee, who has been a vocal critic of Beijing and a key figure in annual June 4 vigils to mark the Tiananmen Square crackdown, said he wants to know if he will be deemed to be an offender under China’s new law and face prosecution if he crosses the border.
Ip Kwok-him, a pro-Beijing lawmaker, said he doesn’t think that anyone from Hong Kong would face prosecution in the mainland for merely expressing opinions. They also have to find answers to the fundamental questions the movement brought to the fore.
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Schmitt said the United States could exercise more influence by helping Hong Kong’s pro-democratic lawmakers organize with students, two like-minded groups that did not always appear to coordinate during last year’s protests.
