Hong Kong protesters reach out to mainland Chinese in Kowloon march

HONG KONG - Beijing might have dreamed of a scene like this: a crowd of jubilant Hong Kong youths shouting the Chinese national anthem at the top of their lungs.

"Rise up, the people who refuse to be slaves! Let our blood and flesh build a new Great Wall! The Chinese nation is at its moment of greatest crisis! ... Forward! Forward! Forward! Forward!"

But the vocalists were seeking to make a political point to tourists from mainland China, who paused, bewildered, as they came down escalators of a shopping mall to see a crowd of thousands singing their anthem while raising signs that said: "Withdraw the Evil Law," "Hong Kong Democracy," and