HONG KONG -- On July 1, Hong Kong, figuratively speaking, stuck to its democratic guns. It was just as well since China, naturally, has stuck to its antidemocratic guns.
In the runup to the protest march that day, many doubts were aired. Would there be another huge turnout as there was in 2003, when potentially draconian national security legislation and the incompetence of the China-appointed Hong Kong government aroused angry opposition?
Some argued that Hong Kong should be conciliatory and abandon the protest altogether. The doubts were put aside. Those organizing the march did not waver. Despite stifling heat and suffocating pollution, there was a massive turnout of hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers.