"A lot of people concentrate on the reference to 2017 and think there's hope, but to say you may have universal suffrage in that year doesn't mean it's going to happen ... there's no guarantee that it won't be vetoed again."
ULTIMATE AIM
Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, promises universal suffrage as the "ultimate aim" but is vague on a date, giving Beijing scope to dictate a glacial pace of progress.
The chief executive is currently picked by an 800-seat election committee stacked in Beijing's favour, and only half of the city's 60-member legislature are directly elected with the others picked by various business and interest groups.
At the demonstration on Saturday, protesters hoisted banners that read "Democracy delayed is democracy denied" and "No compromise at all".
"We've been cheated out of democracy for another 10 years ... I don't trust the Communist Party at all," said Yeung Lai-kwong, 50, a protester in the printing business.
But political analyst Michael DeGolyer of Hong Kong Baptist University said unless the democratic camp accepted the NPC's decision, it risked being tarred as obstructionist and losing seats in the 2008 Legislative Council election.
"The likelihood is that the democratic movement will split," he said. "The phrase 'better late than never' is going to be a crucial notion."
Saturday's ruling came in response to a report by Tsang which said Hong Kong's majority wanted direct elections by 2012, though a delay until 2017 stood a "better chance of being accepted".
Despite nixing direct elections in 2012, the NPC said it would allow "appropriate amendments" to electoral methods for selecting Hong Kong's leader and legislature that year.
Of the basket of promises enshrined in the city's mini-constitution, Beijing has upheld pledges to allow economic freedoms, but kept the city on a tight leash politically.
While most Hong Kongers want universal suffrage by 2012, a public opinion poll by the Chinese University found 60 percent of citizens would accept 2017, if 2012 were ruled out.
