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Fried in the Victoria Park heat

Organisers of the July 1 democracy march had feared it could be more chaotic than in previous years because of first-time marchers and anticipated police tactics.

Scuffles between police and protesters that erupted after thousands were stuck under the baking sun in Victoria Park after the march started at 3.30pm confirmed their fears.

The mood of the crowd was markedly darker than previous protests, with resentment rising as patience wore thin. 'Down with the police! Down with [Chief Executive Donald] Tsang Yam-kuen!' shouted angry protesters who broke through police barricades in Causeway Road at 5pm as the last protesters left the park. 'People are fainting in the heat. Can't you see or don't you care? Open another lane! Police are getting a pay rise. Why don't you care about the people?' they shouted.

Many elderly people and women carrying infants resisted police who insisted they had to cordon off sections of the road to allow traffic to pass. The scene almost turned violent when protesters started pushing the barricades. Truckloads of tactical unit officers were shuttled in, their presence fuelling the anger. A scuffle was defused when officers allowed protesters, shouting 'long live democracy', to squeeze forward.

Former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang, who was stuck in Victoria Park for two hours, questioned whether police tried to section off the procession to give the impression that the crowd was smaller.

'If the number of protesters was as few as claimed by the government, why did so many people have to wait inside Victoria Park for so long?' she asked.

'Why did the government force so many to be stuck and then faint? Was it the government's motive to play down the march? We need to persevere, because the fight for democracy is not easy.'

Unionist legislator Lee Cheuk-yan, an organiser of the protest, said people were angry because police gave the impression they were unnecessarily blocking the procession, leaving them to bake under the sun.

But Chief Superintendent David Ng Ka-sing, head of the police Public Relations Bureau, denied there was a ploy to hinder protesters.'We cannot allow the situation to get out of control and we had to maintain order,' he said.

Organisers complained that large crowds at publicity booths set up along the way slowed the procession.

The slow progress of a protest by victims of the Lehman Brothers minibonds debacle, who left the park an hour ahead of the main group, also held up proceedings. But the heat and sluggish progress were only part of organisers' concerns.

'My prediction was off the mark,' said Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan, who had hoped more than 100,000 would take part.

Last night, the Civil Human Rights Front put the crowd at 76,000, while the police estimate was 28,000.

But activists remained certain that the crowd, the largest since 2004, would convince the government of people's democratic aspirations.

Many young people - schoolgirls marching hand in hand with their boyfriends, and university students dressed in T-shirts with signs saying 'We are not Donald's slaves' - swelled the ranks.

'They are the fresh force of democracy. Donald Tsang, take heed,' legislator Wong Yuk-man said.

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