HONG KONG, July 13: Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday to protest against the new government's plan to suspend labour rights adopted in the twilight of British rule.

``Defend labour rights. Oppose the chief executive abolishing the laws,'' banner-waving pro-democracy activists and trade unionists chanted as the group of some 500 marched to the office of Hong Kong's new leader, chief executive Tung Chee-hwa.

China recovered the territory at midnight on June 30, ending 156 years of British colonial rule. Tung's government said last week it will introduce a bill on Wednesday to suspend laws boosting workers' rights which were adopted by the colonial legislature just days before China dissolved it upon the handover.

One of the last-minute laws gives unions the right to use collective bargaining in pay negotiations. The administration said it would need a `proper and thorough scrutiny of the implications' of the labour laws.

Leading trade unionist and former legislator Lee Cheuk-Yan, on a five-day hunger strike in protest against the government's move, took part in the march in wheelchair.

He said his action would put pressure on the government. ``He planned to end his hunger strike on Sunday evening andwas due to be replaced by another unionist and former legislator, Leung Yiu-chung, who will fast until Wednesday when the new legislature meets.

At the centre of the controversy is also the legitimacy of laws passed by the current unelected legislature, meant to be an interim body, which has been condemned by democrats and the British colonial government as having no legal basis to enact such a legislation.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.