Over 100,000 demonstrators filed along the streets of Hong Kong 1 July this year in the annual protest march that is on every activist’s agenda in this vibrant city. The march marks the handover of the British colony to Beijing that took place in 1997. The number of 100,000 taking part is according to a independent count group from the University of Hong Kong, as the police counters had the number far down from that and the organisers almost half a million!
Rain stopped play to a large degree with typhoon signal number three hoisted which dampened the spirits somewhat, not only at the anti-government protest but at the multi-and-mini-pro-government camp with their more culturally assuming events, and mass shop-in endeavours.
The protests were a mixed bag, as always, with everything from pensioners seeking pensions, to anti-Chief Executive pleas for step-down, to anti Chinese-neo-colonists waving British flags whose agenda is difficult to grasp, at least for many of the more passive bystanders.
Formally known as the Democracy March there was a strong presence of those demanding a substantial plan for the introduction of a completely democratic process and for that to be seen put into action in 2017, when the next election of the Chief Executive takes place.
It all started back in 1997 when about 5,000 people hit the streets in pouring rain on that July day – with British residents holding their own min-ceremonies and venting tears while lowering the British flag – to counter the formalities taking place at Bauhinia Square in Wanchai. That was where the official handover ceremony was being held. The peaceful demonstrators were calling for democracy in Hong Kong and on the mainland. They were also marching in remembrance of the Tiananmen Square crackdown of June 4, 1989.
Those annual protests didn’t capture public attention until 2003, when half a million marched, stirred up by a proposed national security legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law. The Article 23 legislation was never passed,
Since 2003, the annual demonstration has been largely organised by the pro-democracy Civil Human Rights Front, an amalgamation of groups covering all kinds of human rights issues. This year the widening wealth gap took a certain priority.
In past years the right of abode issue for children born of Hong Kong mothers but denied residency rights was a factor and this highlighted a split in opinions among Hong Kong people. Most visible were those actively demanding that ‘mainlanders’ have their access to Hong Kong restricted – despite that all the people here are ‘mainlanders’, strictly speaking.
Thus, this year’s squadron of Chinese protesters wearing British flag blue, carrying British flags and warning against Chinese neo colonialism! Though officially banned, flags of Taiwan were hoisted by another group.
Student unions held press conferences calling for campus autonomy among other concerns and that was amid demands concerning gay rights, all the way across to animal rights. Many people were waving flags that read “Occupy Central” and chanting slogans including “Down with CY” C. Y. Leung, the Chief Executive).
