In response to Tuesday's procession in Hong Kong, a spokesman of the Hong Kong government stressed the government's full respection to people's rights to take part in the procession and their freedom of expression.

The procession, with about 16,000 participants, started at about 15:00 (0700 GMT) Tuesday from the Victoria Park and concluded at the government offices in Central at about 18:30.

Procession participants mainly put forward concerns closely related to livelihood, including curbing the inflation, legislation for minimum wage level, and rights for animals, anti-discrimination against ethnic minority groups and homosexuals.

Responding to the demands of the procession, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government spokesman said, the third-term HKSAR government had made substantive progress in rolling forward democracy by attaining the timetable for implementing universal suffrage for the Chief Executive in 2017 and for the Legislative Council in 2020 following the decision made by the National People's Congress Standing Committee last December.

"As regards the political appointment system, like other government leaders in free and open societies, the Chief Executive needs to have a political team to help implement his election manifesto," said the spokesman.

"All the under secretaries and political assistants have been appointed in accordance with the approval given by the Legislative Council in December 2007," the spokesman said, adding: "On the part of the HKSAR government, we have explained to the public the appointment process, the appointment criteria, and the criteria for determining remuneration for each appointee. The HKSAR government has set out the information in writing to the Legislative Council panel on constitutional affairs."

Noting that the procession has raised various other livelihood-related demands, the spokesman said, "We are deeply concerned about the impact of the recent rise in inflation on various segments of the community, especially on the livelihoods of lower income households. The short-term outlook for inflation is still subject to the influences of a number of factors such as movements in global crude oil and food prices, as well as the rising flat rentals in the local economy."

But as many of the relief measures announced in the 2008-09 Budget will be put in place in the months ahead, "they should help to alleviate the inflationary pressure on households in the latter part of this year," the spokesman said.

"The HKSAR government is now studying ways to further address these concerns and we hope to have them unveiled in the coming Policy Address in October," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency July 2, 2008)