Thousands of citizens march in Hong Kong

Thousands of Hong Kong citizens took to the streets in Hong Kong Island Sunday afternoon.

Organizers said the march is aimed at expressing discontentment over the government's package proposals for Hong Kong's constitutional development.

However, the demands raised by the people taking part in the march are quite different, judging from the slogans they held.

The citizens began marching from the Victoria Park at around 3: 00 p.m., and 82 public buses had to alter routes because of the march.

Some bystanders told press that they support the government's constitutional development proposals and held that the most important thing for Hong Kong now is to maintain stability and keep economic growth.

Hong Kong Police estimated the turnout to be around 63,000.

After nearly two years of consultation and extensively soliciting views from various walks of life, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government issued on Oct. 19 " Package of Proposals for the Methods for Selecting Chief Executive in 2007 and for Forming the Legislative Council in 2008".

Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang said the package is a democratic plan, which could help advance an important step toward universal suffrage in Hong Kong.

Several surveys made after the publishing of the package proposal indicated that most of Hong Kong citizens support the proposals.

A consultation with all the districts by the HKSAR government also indicated that most of the District Councils support the constitutional development proposals.

According to the Basic Law, "the methods for selecting the Chief Executive and formation of the Legislative Council shall be worked out in the light of the actual situation in Hong Kong and applied in a gradual and orderly way." The ultimate goal is universal suffrage.

Source: Xinhua