{"id":1179,"date":"2014-06-04T04:35:39","date_gmt":"2014-06-04T04:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=1179"},"modified":"2014-06-04T04:35:39","modified_gmt":"2014-06-04T04:35:39","slug":"hong-kong-protesters-march-ahead-of-tiananmen-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/hong-kong-protesters-march-ahead-of-tiananmen-anniversary","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong protesters march ahead of Tiananmen anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Wilfred Chan, CNN<\/span><\/p>\n

updated 2:09 AM EDT, Mon June 2, 2014<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Protesters marched to Hong Kong’s government headquarters to demand democracy in Hong Kong and China. Protesters marched to Hong Kong’s government headquarters to demand democracy in Hong Kong and China.<\/p>\n

Protesters: ‘Democracy, now!’<\/p>\n

Hong Kong (CNN) — At least 1,900 Hong Kongers took the streets to call for democracy on a sweltering Sunday afternoon, an energetic prelude to Wednesday’s scheduled mass vigil honoring the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.<\/p>\n

The protesters, many of whom were students, marched to Hong Kong’s government headquarters shouting “democracy now” and “end one-party rule.”<\/p>\n

A team carried a massive banner demanding Chinese leaders formally acknowledge what happened on June 4th, 1989, while others carried signs demanding the release of political prisoners such as Nobel Prize-winning dissident Liu Xiaobo.<\/p>\n

Thousands march for democracy in Hong Kong Hong Kong journalists protest censorship Hong Kong shocked by journalist stabbing<\/p>\n

One of the lead marchers was Yvonne Leung, 20, the president of the Hong Kong University Students Union.<\/p>\n

“Personally, my main concern is to end one-party rule in China, because the Communist Party is ruling illegitimately,” she said. “It doesn’t have the Chinese’s people’s mandate… and it is not acceptable. Democracy is a universal value.”<\/p>\n

Another protester, 21-year-old Vincent Wong, said he was protesting to keep the memory of the Tiananmen victims alive.<\/p>\n

“The Tiananmen Square massacre was a mistake,” he said. “Mistakes can be forgiven, but history cannot be forgotten.”<\/p>\n

Doubts over free speech<\/p>\n

The former British colony is currently the only place within Chinese territory where large pro-democracy demonstrations are tolerated.<\/p>\n

Still, many of its residents are worried that the city’s freedoms are steadily eroding.<\/p>\n

In February, journalists organized a 6,500-person rally decrying what they said were increasing levels of coercion against Hong Kong press.<\/p>\n

Days after the rally, a prominent Hong Kong news editor known for his hard-hitting coverage of China was stabbed by unidentified assailants. The attack, which is still being investigated, was seen by many local journalists a symbol of the city’s declining press freedom.<\/p>\n

“If a respected editor could be attacked in such a blatant and ruthless manner, no one in the news-gathering business is safe,” wrote South China Morning Post columnist Alex Lo.<\/p>\n

This year, French-based Reporters Without Borders ranked Hong Kong 61st worldwide in press freedom \u2014 a precipitous drop from its 18th place ranking in 2002.
\nREAD MORE: Hong Kong press freedom at all-time low<\/p>\n

Calls for electoral reform<\/p>\n

The city is also facing an impending showdown with Beijing over electoral reform.<\/p>\n

Pan-democrat Hong Kongers want the city’s general population to be able to nominate and elect its next chief executive, but Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing politicians have argued that a small committee should select only candidates who “love China.”<\/p>\n

Later this month, a pro-democracy group called Occupy Central plans to hold an unofficial citywide referendum asking Hong Kong’s citizens to vote for their preferred type of electoral reform, a move that has irked the city’s pro-Beijing establishment.<\/p>\n

If the results show support for public nomination and elections, Occupy Central says it will block traffic in Hong Kong’s crowded downtown to pressure the government to adopt its reforms.<\/p>\n

A January poll by the non-partisan Hong Kong Transition Project found 38% of Hong Kongers supported Occupy Central’s proposed civil disobedience, while 54% opposed it.
\nChina’s vice president has warned that such a protest would be “unlawful” and would “wreck the stability and prosperity” of the city.<\/p>\n

For now, hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers are expected to attend the city’s annual June 4th vigil, where the Communist Party is certain to come under vicious public criticism.<\/p>\n

More loud protests are guaranteed. What’s less certain is whether Hong Kong will find a political solution.<\/p>\n

From http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2014\/06\/01\/world\/asia\/hong-kong-tiananmen-rally\/index.html?sr=sharebar_twitter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Wilfred Chan, CNN updated 2:09 AM EDT … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,95],"tags":[90,94,101],"views":837,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1179"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1180,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179\/revisions\/1180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}