Frustration over dashed hopes for democracy comes to a head

This time they weren't calling for Tung Chee-hwa's head - but thousands of protesters did find a use for an inflatable version of the chief executive's cranium yesterday.

Some placed a blindfold over it, others waved it in anger and many pounded it up and down to symbolise the final nail being hammered into the coffin of any hopes for full democracy.

Among the thousands of protesters who marched from Chater Garden in Central along Des Voeux Road to the mainland's liaison office in Western were pregnant women, a disabled woman in a wheelchair, elderly people in their 80s and 90s, and tourists. Many wore black armbands.

Mrs So, a social worker who is pregnant and who took part in the rally on July 1 last year, said she was marching for the sake of her unborn child.

'I feel this is a good chance to teach my baby, even though she is not even born. I hope she can feel what it's like for us to seek democracy,' she said, marching with her husband.

Engineer Jacob Chan, who was carrying his two-year-old son, sang songs and chanted slogans.

He did not have the time to take part in the whole rally and was ambivalent on whether public shows of discontent achieved anything in the present political climate. 'My son is too young to understand,' he said.