Tens of thousands of protesters, some waving British imperial flags and denouncing Chinese “colonists”, marched through torrential rain in Hong Kong on Monday to clamour for universal suffrage on the 16th anniversary of the city’s return to mainland rule.
Tropical Storm Rumbia brought a drenching and strong winds to the march, now an annual outpouring of discontent directed at both China’s communist Government and the semi-autonomous territory’s local leadership.
The parade route from the city’s Victoria Park to the skyscrapers of the Central district was a sea of umbrellas as well as banners — bearing slogans that ranged from “Democracy now” to “Down with the Chinese Communist Party”.
A handful of marchers scuffled with police but no major trouble was reported, as curious tourists from mainland China stared at a licensed expression of popular anger that is unimaginable back home.
Early on Monday, China’s National anthem blared as the national and Hong Kong flags were raised outside the harbourside Convention Centre to mark the city’s transfer from British to Chinese rule in 1997.