The poster of the protest for democracy in Hong Kong

Protesters passing Yee Wo Street in Causeway Bay.

Advertisement on Ming Pao calling for protesters. Translation: We will create history today. Go to Victoria Park, fight for universial suffrage. See you at three. (Large, stylised) Universal Suffrage. Signed: the 25 pro-democracy LegCo members

On December 4, 2005, tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong protested for democracy and called on the Government to allow universal and equal suffrage. The protesters demanded the right to directly elect the Chief Executive and all the seats of the Legislative Council. They also urged the government to abolish the appointed seats of the district councils. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1689x1239, 1295 KB) Summary The poster of December 2005 protest for democracy in Hong Kong. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1689x1239, 1295 KB) Summary The poster of December 2005 protest for democracy in Hong Kong. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 2333 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 2333 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Yee Wo Street (怡和街) is a street in East Point and Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. ... Large crowd of shoppers can be seen on Causeway Bay. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1200x1600, 978 KB) Summary zh: 2005年爭取香港普選大遊行12月4日刊登在明報內的呼籲廣告。 ç”±User:Simon Shek攝的 Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: December 2005 protest in Hong Kong Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1200x1600, 978 KB) Summary zh: 2005年爭取香港普選大遊行12月4日刊登在明報內的呼籲廣告。 ç”±User:Simon Shek攝的 Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: December 2005 protest in Hong Kong Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... Ming Pao (Traditional Chinese: 明報, Simplified Chinese: 明报, Jyutping ming4 bou3, Hanyu Pinyin: míngbào), a Chinese language newspaper, is a publication by the Ming Pao Group in Hong Kong. ... December 4 is the 338th day (339th on leap years) of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Universal suffrage (also general suffrage or common suffrage) consists of the extension of suffrage, or the right to vote, to all adults, without distinction as to race, sex, belief or social status. ... The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Traditional Chinese: 香港特別行政區行政長官; Simplified Chinese: 香港特别行政区行政长官; Jyutping: hoeng1 gong2 dak6 bit6 hang4 zing3 keoi1 hang4 zing3 zoeng2 gun1; pinyin: XiÄ... The Legislative Council (立法會, abbreviated LegCo) is the unicameral legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ... The District Councils (區議會 and formerly District Boards) are district organizations in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). ...

Organised by the Civil Human Rights Front and pro-democracy lawmakers, the protest began at the football pitches in the Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Island, where there was a public assembly. The march started at 3pm from the park towards the Central Government Offices in Central. Pro-democracy camp (民主派) is a frequently used jargon by the media and within the academics to refer to the politicians and social activists in Hong Kong who advocate faster pace of democratisation and implementation of universal and equal suffrage. ... Statue of Queen Victoria in Victoria Park Victoria Park (Chinese: 維多利亞公園, pinyin: Wei Duo Li Ya Gong Yuan) is a public park in Hong Kong, named after Queen Victoria. ... Large crowd of shoppers can be seen on Causeway Bay. ... The night view of the Island side as seen from the Kowloon side - the opposite side of the Victoria Harbour Hong Kong Island (香港島, colloquially the Island side) is the island where the colonial settlement of the Hong Kong territory, Victoria City, was founded. ... The Hong Kong Central Government Office houses most major departments in the HKSAR. Built in 1957 by the then British colonial government, it replaced a two storey colonial complex from the 1930s (old Secretariat Building (built 1847) was demolished in 1954). ... The night view of the Central as viewed from Tsim Sha Tsui on the opposite side of the Victoria Harbour Central (Chinese: 中環; Jyutping: zung1 waan4; Cantonese IPA: ; Pinyin: Zhōnghuán) is an area located in Central and Western District, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. ...

There were several estimates of the crowd turnout ranging from 63,000 to over 250,000 (see the section Controversy over turnout below). The organisers claimed there were at least 250,000 participants, a figure most cited in the headlines or leading sentence of local newspapers.

Background

The protest was organised by the Civil Human Rights Front and pro-democracy lawmakers of the territory, to oppose the electoral reform as proposed by Chief Executive Donald Tsang, and to demand the implementation of universal and equal suffrage in Hong Kong. The theme colour for the march was black. Pro-democracy camp (民主派) is a frequently used jargon by the media and within the academics to refer to the politicians and social activists in Hong Kong who advocate faster pace of democratisation and implementation of universal and equal suffrage. ... Sir Donald Tsang Yam Kuen GBM JP KBE (Chinese: 曾蔭權, born October 7, 1944) has been the Chief Executive of Hong Kong since 2005. ... Universal suffrage (also general suffrage or common suffrage) consists of the extension of suffrage, or the right to vote, to all adults, without distinction as to race, sex, belief or social status. ...

Under the current system, the Chief Executive is selected by an 800-member Election Committee, consisting of members (electors) as elected from respective sectors, mainly representing business and professional interests. Only half of the sixty members of the Legislative Council are directly elected by the public, with the rest representing different sectors of the community, mainly business and professionals. This page discusses the college of electors in Hong Kong politics. ... The Legislative Council (立法會, abbreviated LegCo) is the unicameral legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

In his reform package, revealed in the Constitutional Development Task Force Report No.5 that was widely considered to be backed by Beijing, Tsang proposed to double the number of electors to the Chief Executive election of 2007 to 1600 members and add ten seats to the Legislative Council (to seventy seats). The former would enable all members of district councils, including appointed ones, to be member of the Election Committee and the latter would increase the number of seats elected through geographical and functional constituencies by five each; but they did not give a clear timetable for universal and equal suffrage and did not represent any meaningful progress in democracy. The Central Peoples Government is the central government of the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing. ...

See also:

• Democratisation in Hong Kong
• Hong Kong legislative election, 2004

Democratisation has been a major issue in the politics of Hong Kong, mainly over the introduction of universal and equal suffrage to elect the Chief Executive and all the seats of the Legislative Council, the unicameral legislature of the territory. ... Elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) were held on September 12, 2004. ...

Remarks on the march

Most of the participants in the march comprised ordinary Hong Kong residents with mainstream social and political views. Notable remarks by individuals from the business, social or political elite of Hong Kong included the following. Mainstream is, generally, the common current of thought. ... Look up élite and elite in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

• Gordon Wu, chairman of one of the largest property developers in Hong Kong, Hopewell Holdings Ltd, stated that if reform proposal can be decided through demonstrations, it is mobocracy instead of rule of law.

• Stanley Ho, one of the wealthiest individuals in Asia, and well known for his long term government-granted monopoly over the operation of casinos in Macau, estimated four days prior to the demonstration that the number of participants would be no more than 50,000. According to Ho, Hong Kong is "not ready" for democracy as most Hongkongers "do not know much about politics". By way of support of this view Ho indicated that he had not himself received political education in Hong Kong between kindergarten and university.

• Anson Chan, the former Chief Secretary participated in the march [1] and criticised both the Hong Kong government and Beijing for the lack of real democratic reform. She is the highest profile person outside of the pro-democracy movement to express such views. Other former government officials, such as Nancy Yam (任關佩英), are also known to have participated in the march.

Some see the views of individuals such as Ho and Wu as irrelevant, coming as they do from very highly placed members of the establishment who have a strong vested interest in maintaining the political status quo in Hong Kong. Sir Gordon Ying Sheung Wu (胡應湘; pinyin: hu2 ying4 xiang1; Cantonese:wu4 jing3 soeng1) (born December 1935) is the chairman of the board of Hong Kong-listed Asian infrastructure firm Hopewell Holdings Ltd. ... Hopewell Holdings Limited (合和實業有限公司), established on 17th October, 1972, is a Hong Kong-listed infrastructure and property firm headed by Sir Gordon Wu. ... Mobocracy is a term used to describe a state of affairs, in politics or other organizational behavior where decision making procedures, discourse and process have broken down and a temporary majority forces issues without regard to established norms or the rights of the minority. ... The rule of law implies that government authority may only be exercised in accordance with written laws, which were adopted through an established procedure. ... Stanley Ho (born November 25, 1921), also known as Ho Hung-sun, Stanley Ho Hung-sun and 何鴻燊 (pinyin: Hé HóngshÄ“n), is a famous entrepreneur in Hong Kong and Macau. ... In economics, a government-granted monopoly (also called a de jure monopoly) is a form of coercive monopoly in which the government grants a monopoly in a product or service to a private individual or firm, and excludes potential competitors from the market by law, regulation, or other mechanisms of... Anson Chan Anson Chan Fang On Sang GBM GCMG CBE JP (陳方安生) (born January 17, 1940) is formerly a prominent and long-standing head of Hong Kongs civil service before and after the territorys handover to the Peoples Republic of China from British colonial rule. ... The Chief Secretary for Administration (政務司司長), commonly known as Chief Secretary and abbreviated as CS, is the second highest position of Hong Kong Government. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Vested interests are people or groups who stand to gain financially from some policy, usually a public policy. ... Look up Status quo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Status quo is a Latin term meaning the present current, existing state of affairs. ...

Controversy over turnout

As in the annual vigil in memory of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, the July 1 protests, and other public marches and assemblies, the turnout figure is a matter of controversy, since it is difficult to accurately estimate. With different methods of estimation, the organisers estimated there were at least 250,000 participants, and the police projected 63,000. A study team from the University of Hong Kong estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people. A University of Hong Kong actuary lecturer and his team estimated 60,000 to 80,000. The different methods used by the organisers and the study teams contributed to discrepancies. The police declined to disclose the method they had adopted, saying that their figure is for internal reference and arrangement. The Unknown Rebel — This famous photo, taken by Associated Press photographer Jeff Widener, depicts a lone protester whose actions halted the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour. ... July 1 marches is a series of marches on July 1 held annually in Hong Kong since 2003. ... The University of Hong Kong (zh-hk: 香港大學, zh-cn: 香港大学, pinyin: Xiānggǎng Dàxué; abbreviated as HKU and 港大) is an English-speaking university. ...

Aftermath

Chief Executive Donald Tsang declined to meet with pro-democracy lawmakers during the protest. Afterwards, he said he would work to "perfect" the reform package for December 21st, however he said there was little scope for him to work with. He also ruled out travelling with pro-democracy lawmakers to Beijing to speak with the central government. Sir Donald Tsang Yam Kuen GBM JP KBE (Chinese: 曾蔭權, born October 7, 1944) has been the Chief Executive of Hong Kong since 2005. ...

Pro-democracy lawmakers also pushed their demand for a timetable for universal suffrage, saying that even if Tsang removed the functional constituency councillors from the reform package, they would still vote it down.

Wen Jiabao, Premier of the PRC, said in Paris he was "concerned" about the situation in Hong Kong. The government in Beijing has stated that moving too quickly to full democracy will put Hong Kong's economic and political stability at risk. Wen Jiabao (Simplified Chinese: 温家宝; Traditional Chinese: 溫家寶; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Wen Chia-pao) (born September 1942) is the Premier of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China. ... The Premier ( Chinese: 总理 pinyin: zŏnglĭ), sometimes referred to as the Prime Minister, is the Chairman of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China and head of Central Peoples Government. ...

Rumour of Beijing offer for suffrage in 2017

On December 7, it was reported by several news agencies that an official in the PRC government might make a verbal offer soon for universal suffrage for Hong Kong by 2017. December 7 is the 341st day (342nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Pro-democracy lawmaker Ronny Tong said he was contacted by a "middleman" and that he would not agree to the 2017 date, because too many leaders will have changed in Hong Kong and Beijing before then. Democratic Party chairman Lee Wing Tat responded to the rumours by saying that 2017 was too late, and 2012 was the latest date he would accept. James To, also of the Democratic Party, said he was contacted by someone in the PRC government asking for his reaction if Beijing proposed "letting Hong Kong have democracy as early as 2012 if conditions are mature and not later than 2017." It is unknown what To's reponse was. Ronny Tong (Chinese: 湯家驊; Simplified Chinese: 汤家骅), born August 28 1950 in Hong Kong, is a barrister-turned politician, currently a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, representing the New Territories East geographical constituency. ... The Democratic Party (民主黨) is a pro-democracy and liberal, political party in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Lee Wing Tat, the Chairman of the Democratic Party The Honourable Lee Wing Tat (李永達 ) (born December 25, 1955 in Hong Kong and his native place is Huiyang, Guangdong) is currently the Chairman of the Democratic Party (DP). ... James To Kun Sun (涂谨申) is member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong since 1991 except between 1997 and 1998. ...

However, according to Xinhua News Agency, the Liason Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong responded by saying these reports "are groundless". [2] [3] The Central Peoples Government is the central government of the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing. ...

The Vote

Report No.5 was voted by LegCo on 21 December. The 25 pro-democracy legislators were expected to vote against it, although there were continuing rumours that some might switch their position and supported it. The report needed 6 pro-democracy legislators supporting it to pass. The radio program The Tipping Point is running a survey on which legislators are most likely to vote for it. [4] December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links Icon for Wikipedia links to w:Chinese language pages. ...

Eventually, with the opposition of 24 pro-democracy legislators (except for Lau Chin Shek who abstained), both the election reform proposals for Chief Executive and LegCo were turned down. Lau Chin-shek The Honourable Lau Chin Shek (Chinese: 劉千石, born 12 September 1944 in Guangzhou, Guangdong and his native place is Shunde, Guangdong) is the President of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions and a Vice Chairman of the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee. ...

See also

• Chris Patten
• Hong Kong Front
• Elections in Hong Kong
• Pro-democracy camp

Lord Patten of Barnes The Right Honourable Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, CH, PC (born 12 May 1944) is a prominent British Conservative politician. ... Hong Konger Front Hong Konger Front (我是香港人連線) is an alliance composed of pro-independence websites in Hong Kong. ... Elections are held in Hong Kong when certain offices in the government need to be filled. ... Pro-democracy camp (民主派) is a frequently used jargon by the media and within the academics to refer to the politicians and social activists in Hong Kong who advocate faster pace of democratisation and implementation of universal and equal suffrage. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

December 2005 protest for democracy in Hong Kong

• Website of Civil Human Rights Front

Press release of the government

• CE speaks to the media after the public rally
• Details of the Fifth Report of the Constitutional Development Task Force: [5]

Media coverage

• RTÉ
• BBC
• AP
• IHT
• Reuters
• AFP
• OhmyNews International