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Tens of thousands turn out for Hong Kong democracy march
Sydney Morning Herald - July 1, 2014
The rally on Tuesday reflects surging discontent over Beijing's insistence that it vet candidates before a vote in 2017 for the semi-autonomous region's next leader.
The march comes after nearly 800,000 people voted in an informal referendum to demand a electoral mechanism to nominate candidates. The poll has irked Beijing, which branded it "illegal and invalid" despite the unexpectedly high turnout.
The annual July 1 rally, marking the day the territory returned to China, was tipped to draw the largest crowd since 2003, when half a million people turned out.
The Hong Kong government urged residents on Tuesday not to undermine the city's stability and prosperity as security was stepped up in the Asian financial centre. Banks and companies in the heart of the business district have made contingency plans in case protesters linger and block roads on Wednesday.
A recent survey by the University of Hong Kong's Public Opinion Program found that 33 per cent of respondents had a negative opinion of the Beijing policies towards the city, The New York Times reported, while 31 per cent percent viewed Beijing's policies favourably.
The 10-day referendum in the former British territory – conducted online, via mobile phones and in person – asked residents to cast ballots for one of three mechanisms for directly electing the city's chief executive. About 787,000 people – more than 10 per cent of the city's population – participated, organisers said. Mainland authorities have denounced the balloting as illegal.
Under the framework governing the city's return to Chinese rule in 1997, direct voting for the chief executive is to begin in 2017. Rules for the election have not yet been drawn up, but organisers of the referendum fear the guidelines will be written so as to allow leaders in Beijing to screen out any potentially objectionable candidates.
All three proposals on the ballot called for some means of allowing Hong Kong residents to directly nominate candidates for the city's top job.
China's State Council on Monday calling the referendum "illegal and invalid". "Our standpoint is firm that the position of chief executive must be shouldered by one who loves both the country and Hong Kong," the statement added, reiterating Beijing's position that it may rule out any candidate it believes does not "love" China.
This month's referendum, organised by a group called Occupy Central with Peace and Love, has sparked fierce denunciations from Beijing authorities as well as from some business groups in Hong Kong. The voting website came under cyber attacks, and media outlets that expressed support for the vote experienced similar assaults.
In Beijing, one of the Chinese military's most senior former officers was accused of corruption, the highest-ranking official to date felled in a battle against pervasive graft. Xu Caihou, who retired as vice chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission last year and from the Communist Party's decision-making Politburo in 2012, was also expelled from the party and will be court-martialed. (Los Angeles Times, Reuters)
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