HONG KONG-CHINA/FLAG RAISING Hong Kong holds handover anniversary ceremony, protesters stages small rally

Record ID: 134866

  • Title: HONG KONG-CHINA/FLAG RAISING Hong Kong holds handover anniversary ceremony, protesters stages small rally
  • Date: 1st July 2015
  • Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (JULY 1, 2015) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** CHIEF EXECUTIVE LEUNG CHUN-YING (CENTRE) AND GUESTS AT COCKTAIL RECEPTION STEPPING ONTO STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (Cantonese) CHIEF EXECUTIVE, LEUNG CHUN-YING, SAYING: "The current government has been in office for three years. In two of these years, we have used a lot of energy on the issue of po
  • Embargoed: 16th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4OWKG22MULVXJIAH8P46U5MMT
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hong Kong held a ceremony to mark the 18th anniversary of the handover as a handful of pro-democracy demonstrators held a rally on Wednesday (July 1).
    At a cocktail reception following the flag-raising ceremony, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said the government would move forward after the political turmoil and appealed to the public for support.
    "The current government has been in office for three years. In two of these years, we have used a lot of energy on the issue of political reform. After the proposal for electing the chief executive was rejected, the government needs the support and cooperation of the entire community in our efforts to develop the economy and social well-being (of people)," Leung said.
    The protesters, demanding universal suffrage and the resignation of the Hong Kong leader, marched through the streets and past government supporters waving Chinese and Hong Kong flags.
    Organiser and legislator, Leung Kwok-hung, was not invited to the official celebrations this year but said he had to give a voice to the people of Hong Kong.
    "I think in front of those VIPs and celebrities, I would like to voice out the demands and feelings of Hong Kong people," he said.
    Thousands of police will be on standby for the annual march later on Wednesday marking the 1997 handover from Britain to China, as tensions run high nearly two weeks after Hong Kong's legislature vetoed a Beijing-backed electoral reform proposal that had triggered sometimes violent protests in the city, presenting Beijing with its most serious challenge in years.
    Police cleared away the last few pro-democracy tents near government headquarters last week.
    Around half a million pro-democracy protesters joined the July 1 march last year, when police arrested more than 500 people who blocked a road in the financial district, in what was seen as a prelude to the massive 79-day Occupy movement of civil disobedience that kicked off in September.
    The July 1 demonstration has been a fixture of the protest calendar. In 2003, half a million people demonstrated against proposed anti-subversion laws that were later scrapped.
    Tung Chee-hwa, the city's leader at the time, stepped down in March 2005, nearly two years before completing his second five-year term.
    Hong Kong returned to China under a "one country, two systems" formula that granted the city wide-ranging freedoms denied in mainland China, including the right to large public protests that include a June 4 vigil to mark the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing.
    China also held out the promise of universal suffrage. The electoral blueprint rejected by lawmakers would have allowed a direct vote for the city's next chief executive in 2017, but only from among pre-screened, pro-Beijing candidates.
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