Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - Tens of thousands of people participated in the democratic march of July 1, on the day on which the territory officially celebrates the 11th anniversary of its return to the mainland. Before the march, a prayer meeting was held, presided over by Cardinal Joseph Zen, the Catholic bishop of Hong Kong. Vice-president Xi Jinping preferred to postpone his arrival in the territory to avoid embarrassment.
The demonstration was held yesterday from two until five in the afternoon, moving from Victoria Park to Central. Braving the summer heat, at least 48,000 people wound through the streets carrying banners and shouting slogans related to the Olympics in Beijing ("One Dream! Equal Human Rights!"), but also calling for greater well-being for the population of Hong Kong, marked by growing inflation. Among the many requests, there remains the lively call for universal suffrage for the territory, which Beijing does not want to grant before 2017. At the prayer meeting, Cardinal Zen said that autonomy and democracy (values included in the Basic Law, the mini-constitution of Hong Kong, and theoretically recognised by Beijing) remain "empty promises and distant dreams".
There were many criticisms of the policies of chief executive Donad Tsang Yam-kuen, who was criticised for hiring certain "experts" who - in addition to keeping foreign passports - are paid extremely high salaries (up to 100-150 thousand Hong Kong dollars per month, about 10-15 thousand euros).
For the first time in the history of the territory, some of the slogans called for Tsang's resignation.
The march saw fewer participants compared to previous editions (68,000 last year; 58,000 two years ago; half a million in 2003). According to various analysts, this is due to the fact that currently there are no pressing political concerns. In 2003, at the first march, there was a massive presence because people wanted to contest a law restricting civil liberties. Thanks to the march, the prospective law was shelved.
But the demonstration remains one of the most heavily attended of the territory. At the official ceremonies commemorating the return of Hong Kong to the mainland, only a few hundred official figures participated. Xi Jinping, China's vice-president and head of Hong Kong affairs, preferred not to attend on July 1, and postponed his arrival in the territory by one week. The democrats have asked to be able to meet with him personally, but so far the only possibility for a meeting will be the dinner on July 7, to which only democratic parliamentarians and other official figures have been invited.