Hong Kong democracy activists mark 12 years of Chinese control
Updated
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Hong Kong yesterday, as the special administrative region marked the 12th anniversary of being handed back to China.
As many as 76,000 protestors marched noisily, demanding the right to choose their government and to express frustration on a range of issues, including the administration's response to the economic slowdown.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speakers: Martin Lee, veteran pro-democracy leader and founder of the Hong Kong Democratic Party
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LEE: I think it was very successful particularly when you take into account the fact that Donald Tsang, the Chief Executive [of Hong Kong], has been trying his very best throughout the time that he was Chief Executive to bring the numbers down, because the turnout normally has been recognised as proportional to the dissatisfaction of the government by the people. So he's been doing all sorts of things, paying sweets to the people and so on and massaging his tax policy, everything to bring the numbers down. And of course yesterday was a very, very hot day and the police did their best to make it difficult for us to move along because they interrupted the procession time and again on the ground of letting the traffic through. But in previous years when you've got large numbers they stop the traffic and just allow the people to go on.
LAM: You mentioned the heat yesterday, do you think despite the quite uncomfortable weather conditions the fact that thousands still turned up that the people of Hong Kong are still quite passionate about their democracy?
LEE: Oh definitely and I was encouraged to see quite a lot of young people there and of course you just can't leave us old people to fight for democracy. And as far as I'm concerned we are not just marching for democracy for Hong Kong, we are also marching for democracy in China because there are many, many people in mainland China who would have loved to join us but who couldn't. Every year now since handover on the 1st of July when we celebrate the return of sovereignty to China there would be hundreds of mainlanders actually coming to Hong Kong.
LAM: Do you think that the fact that the people of Hong Kong can turn up in such huge numbers and not suffer brutality at the hands of the police or being arrested, that China in a way has kept up its side of the bargain in the 'one country, two systems'?
LEE: Oh yeah and that is because we've been pushing so hard to make sure the world knows about it. But there's also a downside to 'one country, two systems' because all important policy decisions in Hong Kong are not made by the Hong Kong government but made by Beijing's agents in Hong Kong who call themselves the central government liaison office, and they're meddling with internal affairs of Hong Kong, which is the one thing they shouldn't do.
LAM: And Martin do you think that because there was a wide range of causes represented in yesterday's rally; public housing, wages, investment protections, do you think the collective voice for universal suffrage has been diluted by this?
LEE: Well people are used to taking to the streets for all sorts of reasons but the main theme obviously is democracy, throughout these years that's the main theme.
LAM: And just very quickly the fact that universal suffrage aside do you think there is a growing general discontent in Hong Kong over the way things are run?
LEE: Yeah lots of people in fact wore T-shirts and so on to say that I don't want to be 'Donald' - 'dong lou' in Chinese means to become a slave. And there's people actually even say 'mak dong lou', don't become a slave.
