PROTESTERS ONCE AGAIN FILL STREETS IN HONG KONG

HONG KONG — Pro-democracy protesters streamed through the heart of this city Sunday in their first sizable show of strength since police cleared occupations that blocked streets for 11 weeks late last year.
The protest was much smaller and milder than the “Occupy” demonstrations that ended in mid-December, and it fell well short of the 50,000 participants that organizers had promised. 
They estimated that 13,000 people joined; police estimated that the crowd reached 8,800 at its peak.
But the march was a tentative test of how much support the pro-democracy groups could muster in the new year for their campaign to force the government into accepting open elections for the city’s top official.
“We want to sustain the momentum after the Occupy protests,” Joshua Wong, an 18-year-old student leader at the forefront of last fall’s street demonstrations, said while walking toward the financial district.
Hundreds of police officers watched Sunday as the crowd walked through streets crammed with weekend shoppers. But there were no signs of confrontation with the protesters, many of whom held yellow umbrellas, a symbol of the street occupation last year.

Source: Agency