Tens of thousands marched in Hong Kong on Sunday for the right to directly elect their political leaders and to protest against a package of electoral reforms pushed by the city's chief executive and Beijing, Reuters reported. The turnout of about 60,000 people wearing "Hong Kong loves democracy" stickers was a far cry from July 2003, when an economic slump and disaffection with Hong Kong's leaders drew half a million people to a pro-democracy march. But Sunday's protest could still irritate China's Communist Party leaders and embarrass Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang, who took over from the unpopular Tung Chee-hwa this year. Tsang refuses to budge on his reform proposals, which critics say are inadequate and set no timetable for universal suffrage, which Hong Kong's post-colonial constitution, the Basic Law, allows for.
