After months of avoiding confrontations with Beijing, democracy activists in Hong Kong are planning on today to hold their first big march since a series of rallies last July forced the government to withdraw a stringent internal security bill.
The Civil Human Rights Front, a coalition of religious, labor, social welfare, gay and feminist groups that brought 500,000 people into the streets on July 1, has organized today's demonstration.
Marchers will call for the government of the autonomous territory to allow the public to elect the next chief executive and the entire legislature, said Richard Tsoi (蔡耀昌), the front's spokesman and the organizer of the rally.
On Tuesday, all of the pro-democracy political parties here issued a joint appeal for people to attend the New Year's Day march, which will cover the same route as the July 1 march, from Victoria Park to the central government offices downtown. Heavily criticized last summer for not having done more to prepare for the earlier march, the police announced plans to close many downtown streets to vehicles today.
Today's rally, coming a month after the main pro-Beijing party suffered a sharp setback in local council elections, could make Beijing even more leery of allowing greater democracy in Hong Kong, which Britain handed over to China in 1997.
How many people will attend today's rally is anybody's guess, but nobody is predicting that organizers can draw a crowd as large as last summer's, when nearly a tenth of the territory's population turned out to protest the security legislation as well as a weak economy, mismanagement of SARS and government scandals. Since then, the economy has recovered, the government withdrew the security legislation and the two most controversial government ministers, Antony Leung (梁錦松) and Regina Ip (葉劉淑儀), have resigned.
But polls continue to show that large segments of society are upset with Tung Chee-hwa (
Michael DeGolyer, the director of the Hong Kong Transition Project said that the group's most recent poll, in November, had found only 20 percent of the public satisfied with Tung, the lowest level yet.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
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The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
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