Hong Kong pro-democracy activists in London gathered to protest the 25th anniversary of the formal return to the motherland and Chinese rule (July 1).

Protesters burnt the Chinese national flag, portraits of Carrie Lam, China's President Xi - also caricatured as banned film in China, Winnie the Pooh, and 'ghost' money.

The rally was held outside the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office, where numerous speakers addressed the 200 people assembled on the situation in the former British colony, where crackdown by authorities was ordered after civil unrest rocked the territory in 2019.

Flag burning is not a criminal offence in the UK, though is considered one under the national security law introduced in Hong Kong, where desecration of the national flag is punishable by three year's imprisonment.

The last British governor Chris Patten said recently at a book launch about the handover where China promised to uphold certain conditions for 50 years: 'We always deluded ourselves, and I hoped for the best'.