China:Thousands of democracy activists took to the streets in Hong Kong yesterday to protest against Beijing's decision not to allow direct elections in the former Crown colony until 2017.
Democrats had wanted the right to elect their leader in 2012, but Beijing said late last year that there would be no direct elections until five years later.
While the ruling means a delay, it still raises the possibility of democracy on Chinese territory for the first time and it has been cautiously welcomed.
The general feeling in Hong Kong is that the delayed timetable for universal suffrage is still better than nothing. Opinion polls show over 70 per cent of Hong Kong residents think the 2017 date is acceptable. As one Hong Kong shopper quipped: "It's more than we ever got when the British were in charge".
Since the territory was handed back to Beijing in 1997, there have been moves to introduce direct elections under the terms of the Basic Law, Hong Kong's constitution. Beijing has been less than enthusiastic about introducing democracy onto its sovereign soil, fearful of its wider impact, but the decision on December 29th is still seen as a landmark move towards allowing greater representation in Hong Kong. There are still questions about whether Beijing will deliver on its promises.
Led by Cardinal Joseph Zen, around 6,000 people - or 20,000 according to the organisers - wearing black and white clothes marched through downtown Hong Kong chanting "We want universal suffrage in 2012. Return our right for universal suffrage" and "We are ready now", while waving banners which said "Democracy delayed is democracy denied".
However, the territory's chief executive Donald Tsang urged Hong Kongers to focus on the broader message of the decision, which offers the "historic opportunity" of direct elections for the first time. "Now that a timetable has been set, I hope everyone will be able to focus on what is possible, rather than what is not," he said on Hong Kong radio.
"It's crunch time for everyone involved in our political development. It's never been a question of whether, it's no longer a question of when - it's now a question of 'how'," Mr Tsang said.
As it currently stands, the chief executive is currently picked by an 800-seat election committee, which is pro-Beijing.
Only half of the city's 60-member legislature is directly elected, with the remainder picked by various business and interest groups known as the "functional constituencies".
Under the terms of the Basic Law, direct elections should have been introduced from 2007, but Beijing insists the territory is not yet politically mature enough to vote for its leaders.
It has been a busy weekend for demonstrations in China, where public demonstrations of dissatisfaction are illegal.
In China's biggest city and its financial capital, Shanghai, police stopped a rally against plans to extend the high-speed "maglev" train line into town.
Officers cordoned off the busy shopping precinct Nanjing Road, in what was the largest public protest since thousands took part in sometimes violent anti-Japanese demonstrations in 2005.
The government wants to extend the electromagnetic train line from Pudong international airport through the city to be nearer the domestic airport at Hongqiao.