His last words to Hong Kong were that the June 4 movement “must be vindicated and we should hold on to the fight.” Thousands are expected at his funeral, as the Democratic Party prepares a night vigil to commemorate him in Victoria Park. Dissidents and political leaders praise him.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews) – Hong Kong pro-democracy leader Szeto Wah died aged 79 after a long battle with lung cancer. The 79-year-old Protestant was a long-time thorn in the side of China’s Communist regime. He always fought with courage for human rights and democracy. Thousands of people from all walks of life marched today in the streets of the former British Crown colony to honour one of its most respected citizens.

Hong Kong has served as an important testing ground for civil liberties and democratic reforms in mainland China, and Mr Szeto played a key role, organising for years the candlelight vigil to remember the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre. He led the fight to see the students and workers slaughtered in the streets of Beijing rehabilitated. For the Chinese government, they were and still are counterrevolutionaries.

Lee Cheuk-yan, a top Hong Kong trade union leader who fought with Szeto many a battle, said that the territory’s Democratic Party was planning to hold a memorial night vigil at the Victoria Park in February to allow more people to pay tribute to the pro-democracy activist.

He said that two of the student leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement, Wuer Kaixi and Wang Dan, hope to come to Hong Kong to attend Szeto's funeral.

“I think the government should put aside other political considerations, as they [Wuer and Wang] want to express their affection for him. I think if the Hong Kong government truly respects ‘Uncle Wah’, they [the Chinese authorities] should respect the activists who want to pay tribute to him,” Lee said.

Despite undergoing chemotherapy, Mr Szeto continued to speak out on many rights issues including demanding the release of dissident Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, who was jailed for fighting for democracy.

Originally a teacher, Szeto started his political career as a leader of one Hong Kong's largest teachers' unions.

Along with others, he organised the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Democratic Movements in China, which he headed until his death, and which routinely criticised Beijing for human-rights abuses.

A core member of the leading Democratic Party, he served as a legislator for almost 20 years.

Exiled Chinese dissident Wang Dan said Mr Szeto was a leading light in preserving the spirit of the Chinese democratic movement for future generations.

Rev Chu Yiu-ming, who worked closely with Szeto after the 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Square, said, “His last words to Hong Kong were that [the] June 4 [movement] must be vindicated and we should hold on to the fight.”

In a statement, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen also praised Szeto. “Hong Kong's democratic development remained close to his heart even when he was battling cancer," Mr Tsang said. "Upright, industrious and unwavering in the pursuit of his ideals, Mr Szeto earned great respect from across the community.” He “would be dearly missed”.

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