Pan-democrats hope at least 100,000 people will take to the streets for tomorrow's July 1 march to show their discontentment with the government.
"We are confident that at least 100,000 people will show up," Democratic Party vice-chairwoman Emily Lau Wai-hing said yesterday. The government had arrived the same estimate, she added, "so it could be much higher."
And party chairman Albert Ho Chun- yan said several people with links to Beijing officials asked him where he got the figure of between 150,000 and 200,000 that he mentioned on Sunday.
"Beijing is paying attention to the turnout rate rate as this year marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China," Ho said.
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The democrats are encouraging people to march from Victoria Park to the Central Government Offices in the afternoon to express dissatisfaction and to make demands.
"It is the last protest before the government introduces a constitutional reform proposal at the end of the year," said Civic party chairwoman Audrey Eu Yeut-mee.
Police were accused of intentionally downsizing the attendance figure at the June 4 vigil, but lawmaker Cyd Ho Sau- lan said the organizers, the Civil Human Rights Front, would nevertheless leave counting to the force tomorrow as they did not have the resources.
The march is expected to have the highest attendance among seven events - mostly protests - tomorrow. Police say the seven events are expected to attract a total of 130,000 participants. It will be the largest number of protests in a single day on Hong Kong island.
Among them, a morning "unity parade" organized by the pro-Beijing camp is forecast to see about 40,000 people on the march from Hong Kong Stadium to Southorn Playground.
Other events include protests by the Alliance of Lehman Brothers Victims and one by the handicapped protesting at discrimination.
But Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen will be setting the pace at 8am, leading senior government officials at the flag-raising ceremony at Wan Chai's Golden Bauhinia Square.
There will be a performance by the police band followed by a sea parade and fly past by the disciplined services.
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