Huge queue as Hong Kongers mourn Elizabeth II
Crowds of Hong Kongers queued in sweltering heat to pay tribute to Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, some expressing nostalgia for the city's colonial past at a time when China is seeking to purge dissent.
Public gatherings of more than four people are banned under coronavirus rules while opposition to Beijing's rule has been swept aside in a major crackdown following huge and sometimes violent democracy protests three years ago.
But on a public holiday in Hong Kong, a line of people hundreds of metres long snaked through the business district to the British consulate where a condolence book had been opened for residents to sign.
The wait was three to four hours long but the crowds kept coming despite the 32 degree Celsius heat and an air pollution warning.
Hong Kong was a British colony for over 150 years and while the financial hub was returned to China in 1997, the past is engraved into its landscape, from street names and the ubiquity of English to the common law legal system.
Britain never gave Hong Kongers universal suffrage and many democracy veterans now in jail used to campaign against colonial rule.
But growing anger in recent years over Beijing's treatment of the city -- which exploded with the 2019 protests -- has incubated a sense of nostalgia among some Hong Kongers.
