Hong Kong protest recalls Tiananmen

HONG KONG, China (AP) -- About 1,000 protesters calling on China to release all dissidents and end one-party rule have marched to the government headquarters in the run-up to 12th anniversary of the military crackdown in Tiananmen Square.

Chanting slogans and singing patriotic songs, the protesters rallied at Victoria Park on Sunday before marching through the thoroughfares under a sweltering sun.

Waving a sea of black and white banners, the crowd shouted, "Reverse the verdict on June 4!" "Demand accountability for June 4 massacre!" and "End the one-party dictatorship!"

"It's a powerful way for people to know that we have not forgotten," said lawmaker Emily Lau. "It's reassuring to see so many people turn out to say they have not forgotten the atrocities of 1989."

Some activists carried a dummy coffin during the 6.4-kilometer (4 mile) march to commemorate the loss of hundreds, if not thousands, of young lives when tanks and troops crushed the pro-democracy movement in Beijing in the early hours of June 4, 1989.

The coffin was emblazoned with the words, "The butcher authority stinks for 10,000 years," a reference to the communist leaders who ordered the pro-democracy crackdown.

Beijing still regards the student-led demonstrations as an attempt to overthrow the government.

The march was attended by the young and old. Parents brought young children in strollers while some helped the elderly people along the journey.

"It is the intense grief I feel that has given me the courage to speak up," said 78-year-old Yiu Hon-kwong.

Yiu, who fled China 60 years ago, said he will not return to the mainland unless "there is democracy."

The protest was organized by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which is branded as "subversive" by Beijing.

Several activists from the alliance had scuffled with police earlier this month when they carried a dummy coffin during a demonstration at a global economic conference, which was attended by Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

The harsher-than-usual handling of the activists in that protest sparked concern over freedom of expression in Hong Kong as the territory enters into its fourth year under Chinese rule.

A handful of students also distributed leaflets Sunday to onlookers to call for a stop to what activists have called the abuse of police power.

Despite its change of sovereignty from Britain to China in 1997, Hong Kong has retained a high degree of autonomy where freedom of speech is still legal and has remained the only place on Chinese soil to hold large-scale commemorative events for the Tiananmen massacre every year.