Hong Kong stages massive rally to mourn for hostage victims, demand apology and probe [Xinhua]

Big news in the South China sea region and the Hong Kongers (on many levels, from everyday folk to the celebrities to the authorities) are reportedly angry to the point of rallying in huge numbers (HK Police estimtae 26,000) to demand apology and truth.

The Hong Kongers I know in Melbourne are united in their anger against the Philippines police/authorities for ‘bungling’ the 11-hour hostage crisis on August 23.

I spent an hour sitting in a Hong Kong cafe over the weekend for breakfast and all that was showing (non-stop over the hour) on the news were analysis on the faults of the Philippines police sent in to solve the hostage situation. Few in the cafe were enjoying their meals – all eyes on fixed on the news reportage, from servers to kitchen hands to customers.

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Hong Kong stages massive rally to mourn for hostage victims, demand apology and probe
Editor: Zhang Xiang
Source – Xinhua, published August 29, 2010

People parade to express their condolences for the families of the bus hijack victims in Hong Kong, south China, Aug. 29, 2010. Eight Hong Kong residents lost their lives in a tour bus hijack occured in Philippine's capital Manila on Aug. 23, 2010. Photo - (Xinhua/Huang Xiaoyong)

HONG KONG, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) — Tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents joined in a massive rally on Sunday afternoon to mourn for the eight victims of last Monday’s hostage crisis and demand the Philippine authorities to apologize for the tragedy and conduct a thorough probe soon.

Initiated by several political organizations, Hong Kong residents started to pour into the city’s landmark Victoria Park after around 1:00 p.m. local time in the day despite swelteringly hot weather.

In a brief ceremony before the march started, President of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council Jasper Tsang, the city’s other lawmakers and other marchers observed a 3-minute silence to mourn for those killed in the tragedy.

Filed under: Beijing Consensus, Disaster, Hong Kong, International Relations, Media, People, Philippines Hostage Crisis 2010, Politics, Strategy, xinhua