The Hong Kong government stirred up a political squabble yesterday by claiming just 7,600 people had turned out to protest Beijing's assertion of control over electoral reforms -- a much lower number than demonstrators and police had used.
University of Hong Kong statistics lecturer Paul Yip (葉兆輝) said releasing such a figure days after Sunday's march would play no useful role in police crowd control and he suggested the government had a hidden political agenda.
"It shows that there is a very deep distrust between the government and the public," Yip told RTHK radio.
The protesters marched to China's liaison office to demand that Beijing reverse its binding ruling, issued last week, that any political reforms in Hong Kong must get advanced approval from the central government.
Rally organizer Jackie Hung said 20,000 people had turned out, and a human rights group that said it had conducted an independent count put the figure at 17,000 or more. Police estimated the crowd at 10,000.
Hong Kong officials released their smaller figure on Tuesday night. They did not say who conducted the government survey, but said they might produce similar crowd counts at future rallies on a "case by case" basis.
Elsewhere, pro-democracy protesters were involved in scuffles with police yesterday as they rallied against a leading Chinese figure's criticism of the protest, police and reports said.
A handful of activists from the radical April Fifth Action Group were dragged away from a police station as they chanted anti-China slogans, reports said.
Police said there were no arrests and that the encounter was "largely peaceful."
The gathering had been called to denounce Xu Chongde (許崇德), a Chinese legal expert who criticized a 15,000-strong protest against China on Sunday. Xu said the marchers had been "disrespectful" to the Chinese leadership.
Wednesday's protesters carried banners urging Xu be given an award "for making the most absurd comment of the year," local radio reports said.
The April Fifth Action Group, led by colorful campaigner Leung Kwok-hung (
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