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Ambrose Leung

Organisers of Saturday's  march against government collusion with business  yesterday urged people  not to be scared off the streets by rival protest groups, saying they should defend their civil rights.

The rival January 1 march, led by stockbrokers, is in support of the Link Reit listing and seeks to condemn pro-democracy politicians. Organisers of that rally now say they will not march to the Central Government Offices, the planned destination of the  rally against collusion.

The move was an apparent attempt  to cool tensions between the two camps.

Democratic Party vice-chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan  said supporters should not be intimidated from taking part in the anti-collusion rally.

'The public should persevere and should not let go of their rights to defend public values so easily,' Mr Ho said. 'Otherwise, others  will pick the same day to march in the future and intimidate us again.'

He was speaking at a press conference to announce the details of the pro-democracy camp's march.

Meanwhile, Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun  said there had been a 'misunderstanding' about his support for the march.

The head of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese stressed that the themes of the pro-democracy camp's marches were in line with the church's teaching and should be supported.  He said he was confident the protest would run smoothly.

'The fact that I did urge people not to march does not mean I would not support it ... Since police have now said they would see to the arrangement, I am confident that no problems will happen,' he said.

At least nine  groups are organising the two marches.

The pro-democracy camp's march is to draw attention to  a combination of  themes, including  opposition to collusion between businesses and officials over the real estate investment trust listing and the West Kowloon cultural project. Others themes include  calling for the introduction of universal suffrage, and the  introduction of a minimum wage.

The democrats said they expected between 20,000 and 50,000 people to take part, while their rivals expect  20,000 to join their protest in Central.



Organisers of rival January 1 protests vow to keep distance