Despite heavy rain, 430,000 Hong Kong residents took to the streets on Monday, July 1, 2013, demanding that the Chinese Communist Party-backed Hong Kong chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, resign. They also demanded universal suffrage and democratic reform. July 1 is the Chinese Communist Party’s birthday and also the anniversary of the Hong Kong territory’s handover from Britain to the People’s Republic of China 16 years ago. Every year on this day, Hong Kong residents protest Beijing and demand democratic reform.
Sources: RFA and ABC, July 1 & 2, 2013
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/gangtai/sy-07012013105950.html
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/07/hong-kong-nationals-protest-beijing-in-annual-march/