Protest in Hong Kong

HONG KONG -- Tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents marched through the streets on the twelfth anniversary of the former British colony's return to Chinese sovereignty, one of the largest such protests in five years and a sign of discontent with this city's government.

Associated Press

A protester holds flags reading "One Person One Vote " during a protest march in Hong Kong as the city marked the 12th anniversary of its return to China.

Police said at least 26,000 people participated. Organizers put the number at 76,000, still short of their forecast of at least 100,000. Police said last year's turnout was 15,000, while organizers put it at 47,000.

While calls for greater democracy are a common rallying cry at the annual July 1 march, protesters now push a broader range of causes than in 2003 and 2004, when the tradition took off. On Wednesday, participants represented a broad spectrum of interest groups, who see the occasion as a valuable opportunity to draw attention to their concerns. In addition to the large pro-democracy contingent, residents marched under the banners of causes that included heritage preservation, the environment and the rights of domestic helpers from Indonesia and the Philippines.

The march drew old-timers as well as newcomers who braved intense heat Wednesday to participate. Repairman Henry Wong said he has attended every year to express dissatisfaction with what he sees as the Hong Kong government's lack of attention to the concerns of ordinary residents. Before the march, Mr. Wong, 60, displayed a collection of T-shirts he designed to express a litany of his concerns, including the lack of universal suffrage in Hong Kong, melamine-tainted milk from mainland China and the economic influence of the U.S.

Aggy Fan, 25, said she joined the march for the first time this year because she was unhappy with the government's response to the financial crisis. "Many people from the grass roots are suffering from financial difficulties and they do not do enough to help them," said Ms. Fan, who works for a social-services organization. "They are not elected by us so they cannot represent us."

Brian Leung, 22, a recent college graduate, was handing out pamphlets on behalf of Elements, a volunteer organization for young gay people. "For me it's like a big party," he said. "It's a time for Hong Kong people to talk about what they want and become aware of other problems in society."

Earlier Wednesday, a separate, smaller march was held by patriotic supporters of Beijing to express their opposition to Hong Kong's democracy activists. The government also organized a parade to celebrate the handover anniversary.

Under the policy of "one country, two systems," Hong Kong manages itself under Beijing's supervision, and it retains an open media, freedom of expression and a separate legal system based on British common law.

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In 2003, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to express their opposition to proposed national-security legislation endorsed by the mainland government. The following year, concerns over Hong Kong's economy and widespread dissatisfaction with the city's leader at the time, Tung Chee-hwa, prompted a similarly large turnout.

Hong Kong democracy activists want to see universal suffrage for Hong Kong's chief executive and the legislature by 2012, while Beijing has said that the process won't begin until 2017.

Organizers said they were expecting a larger turnout, fueled by recent controversy over the twentieth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy protestors. In May, Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang said he represented Hong Kong people in saying that the crackdown had happened a long time ago, and that most people had moved on. The comments sparked a backlash, and this year the annual June 4 vigil in Hong Kong drew as many as 150,000 people, the largest turnout since 1990. At the vigil, and again at Wednesday's march, some people wore T-shirts that read, "Donald Tsang, you don't represent me."

Hong Kong residents also are concerned about economic conditions in the city, which entered a recession in the third quarter of 2008. Although property and stock markets have seen a rebound in recent months, unemployment is on the rise and the government expects that the city's GDP will shrink by 5.5% to 6.5% this year. Government workers and civil servants were among the marchers this year, protesting pay freezes and other contract terms.