Hong Kong seeks democracy

Thousands of Hong Kong residents marched to the Chinese government’s liaison office on Friday demanding that Beijing grant full democracy to the semiautonomous financial hub.

Chanting “One man, one vote to choose our leader!” and clutching signs reading “Democracy now,” the demonstrators set off from a crowded street in the heart of the central financial district. Some held aloft portraits of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, demanding his release after he was sentenced last week to 11 years on subversion charges.

Dozens of the protesters tried but failed to breach a police cordon at the Chinese government compound. They staged a peaceful sit-in instead, joined by hundreds of others.

The sizable turnout for the New Year’s Day protest -- police said 9,000 people took part -- was a boost to Hong Kong’s political opposition, which is trying to reignite the democracy movement at a time when residents are more preoccupied with economic issues.

Five pro-democracy legislators plan to resign this month, hoping to turn the special elections they will trigger into a referendum on democracy.

At their peak, pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong drew hundreds of thousands of people. In July 2003, half a million marched to protest a national security bill that many considered draconian, forcing the Hong Kong government to shelve the measure.

The former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a political system that promises Western-style civil liberties. Democracy is promised in Hong Kong’s Constitution, but China ruled in 2007 that the territory can’t directly elect its leader until 2017 and its legislature until 2020.

The protesters Friday said Beijing’s timetable for democracy is too slow. “The sophistication, the worldliness of Hong Kong people has already reached the level where universal suffrage can be allowed,” participant Joseph Fung said.