HONG KONG: Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Hong Kong on Friday to mark the anniversary of the city’s handover from Britain to China, with pro-independence groups rallying for the first time amid fears Beijing is tightening its grip.

A Hong Kong bookseller who was detained and interrogated for months in mainland China, and was due to lead the annual march, but pulled out at the last minute citing a “serious threat” to his security.

Tensions are high in the southern Chinese city after the explosive revelations by bookseller Lam Wing-kee, whose account of his detention on the mainland after he went missing last year sent shockwaves through a city where residents are worried of eroding freedoms.

The 61-year-old was one of five employees of a Hong Kong firm that published salacious titles about leading Chinese politicians and who disappeared only to resurface over the border.

His story fanned growing concerns that Beijing is increasing its influence in semi-autonomous Hong Kong, which is ruled under a “one country, two systems” deal enshrined in the July 1997 handover agreement, guaranteeing its freedoms and way of life for 50 years.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2016