Hong Kong to hold big annual democracy protest
Hundreds of thousands of protesters are to march in Hong Kong Monday to denounce the city's leaders.
HONG KONG (AFP) - Hundreds of thousands of protesters, some waving British colonial-era flags and sporting Edward Snowden masks, are to march in Hong Kong Monday to denounce the city s leaders and demand universal suffrage on the handover anniversary.
Organisers say they expect to see more than 400,000 people take part in the annual rally for democracy, which comes amid concerns in the southern Chinese city that Beijing is increasingly meddling in local affairs.
A widening income gap and soaring property prices will also drive the march as protesters focus their anger on unpopular Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying.
But approaching Tropical Storm Rumbia is expected to bring adverse weather during the afternoon when the march takes place.
"The main goal of the rally is to push through for genuine democracy and to ask for Leung Chun-ying to step down," Jackie Hung of the Civil Human Rights Front, which is organising the march, told AFP.
Government officials refused to speculate on the numbers expected to attend the protest, which goes from the city s Victoria Park to its financial district of Central, and strived to play down mounting public anger.
"No matter how many people come out, we will humbly listen to their views," development minister Paul Chan told reporters on Sunday.
Early Monday, China s national anthem blared as the Chinese and Hong Kong flags were raised outside the harbourside Convention Centre in a ceremony to mark the 16th anniversary of its handover to China.
A small but rowdy protest took place near the ceremony with demonstrators burning a photograph of Leung and pushing and shoving with police.
The July 1 rally comes after a survey published by the Hong Kong University found that only 33 percent of Hong Kongers took pride in being a Chinese national, the lowest level since 1998.
Leung was appointed by a pro-Beijing committee last July, promising to improve governance and uphold the rule of law in the territory of seven million people.
He is charged with overseeing the transition to universal suffrage to appoint the city s leader, which was promised by 2017, though critics say little or no progress has been made on the issue as the deadline draws nearer.
"A major task of the current-term Government is the implementation of universal suffrage for the Chief Executive Election in 2017 in accordance with the provisions of the Basic Law," Leung said Monday in a speech to guests at the handover ceremony.
"With the greatest sincerity and commitment, the SAR Government will launch a consultation at an appropriate juncture," he added.
But Democratic Party lawmaker Emily Lau told AFP: "This year, the cry for Leung Chun-ying to step down will be very loud because he doesn t seem to have achieved much in one year."
According to a poll conducted by the Hong Kong University released last week, Leung s approval rating stands at 46.2 percent.
Residents are also unhappy about high property prices, which have surged in recent years due to record low interest rates and a flood of wealthy people from mainland China snapping up homes.
The former British colony was returned to Beijing in 1997 but has a semi-autonomous status, with guarantees of civil liberties such as the right to protest which are not found in mainland China.
Commentators on the mainland have become irritated by the increasing use of British-era colonial flags at recent protests, embarrassing Beijing.
Last month, hundreds of protesters urged Hong Kong s leaders to protect intelligence leaker Snowden who is wanted by the US government and who later fled the city for Moscow.
Some of those demonstrators wore Snowden masks in support of the fugitive.
The annual July 1 became a major fixture in 2003, when 500,000 people showed their fury over a security bill and an economic downturn, a key factor in the then chief executive Tung Chee-hwa stepping down two years later.
Last year, organisers said 400,000 took to the streets in a defiant reception for Leung hours after he was sworn in as chief executive in front of then Chinese president, Hu Jintao, whose visit took place amid intense security.
