Hong Kong Takes to the Streets to Defend Freedoms

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Hong Kong yesterday to march against a planned anti-subversion law, the biggest demonstration since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

Marchers fear that the freedoms of expression, press and assembly granted under the "one-country, two-systems" deal that governed the transfer of sovereignty from Britain to China in 1997 will be eroded under the new law, known as Article 23.

Yesterday was the anniversary of the handover, but the government celebrations were overshadowed by the huge outpouring of public unease over the new law, record unemployment and the territory's chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, who is widely criticised for kowtowing to Beijing.

In the morning, protesters burned a Chinese Communist party flag outside an official ceremony attended by Mr Tung and China's new prime minister, Wen Jiabao. Organisers estimated that some 400,000 people joined the peaceful march in the afternoon.

Britain and the US have criticised Article 23 - which could be enacted within the week - as a breach of the one-country, two-system deal because it includes an obligation for Hong Kong to outlaw any group deemed illegal on the mainland.

This is seen as an attack on Falun Gong, the meditation group labelled as an "evil cult" in Beijing, but accepted in Hong Kong. Many of its followers - distinctive in yellow tops - joined the protest. Human rights activists and journalists were also present, alarmed about rising police powers and the future of press freedom.

Mr Wen, who left before the protest, said Hong Kong would keep its considerable autonomy to preserve its "unique position and irreplaceable role" within China and the global economy. He said the new law "would absolutely not affect those different rights and freedoms that Hong Kong people - including reporters - enjoy".

But the rally's size underlined the disillusionment in Hong Kong after six years of Chinese rule that has seen repeated recessions, a cover-up of the Sars virus and a gradual erosion of autonomy. A pledge of an expanded electoral franchise has also yet to be realised.

"It is irrefutable that people are unhappy," said Christine Loh, a former independent legislator. "People are out there because they can't change anything."

China's response will be closely scrutinised. President Hu Jintao and Mr Wen, who took office in March, are thought to favour greater transparency and democracy on the mainland, but they are still establishing their authority after 13 years of rule by Jiang Zemin, who retains control of the armed forces.