Thousands join Hong Kong protests
Thousands of people have marched in Hong Kong on the first day of 2013 to call for the city’s Beijing-backed leader to step down.
Police said 17,000 people gathered at the start of the march, but organisers put the figure at 130,000.
They carried banners and chanted slogans urging chief executive Leung Chun-ying to resign over allegations that he was untruthful about illegal renovations at his mansion.
The protest comes half a year after Mr Leung took office after being chosen by a committee of mostly pro-Beijing elites. He got the job after a scandal over a huge, illegal basement brought down his rival.
But illegal structures were later discovered at Mr Leung’s house. Demonstrators are using the controversy to push for full democracy for the former British colony, which is now a semi-autonomous region of China.
