Up to 400,000 people took to the streets in Hong Kong yesterday in an outpouring of dissatisfaction over a number of issues as the city’s new leader was sworn in by Hu Jintao, Chinese president.
Mr Hu used Leung Chun-ying’s inauguration to stress – in a speech briefly disrupted by a heckler protesting against the Tiananmen Square massacre – the importance of more co-operation and unity in the territory. He called on Mr Leung’s administration to heed “deep disagreements and problems” in the territory, in a sign of Beijing’s growing concern about tensions.
The turnout yesterday – the 15th anniversary of the former British crown colony’s return to China – was the biggest since 2003, when half a million people marched against a controversial anti-sedition law and a collapse in property prices. Hong Kong’s first post-colonial chief executive had to step down as a result.