Rain couldn't stop pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong from taking to the streets in the run up to the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen square crackdown.   
         
But it's not just the past that has hundreds fired up - rather the current state of democratic reform in the communist country. 
           
Hong Kong enjoys more freedoms than their mainland neighbors, something they would like to spread.
             
[Ching Tsang, Civil Servant]:         
"As a Hong Kong citizen I hope to help the 1.3 billion people in China to fight for more democracy.  The Hong Kong spirit is never to compromise, to remain true to our ideology and never give up."
            
Protesters demanding the release of two political prisoners — jailed for promoting human rights. 
           
But they also want to tackle a new threat to human rights reform in China — apathy from the west.             

[Lee Cheuk-Yan, Hong Kong Alliance Spokesman]:            
"It's obvious that you know western nations now are only looking for money and that's all.  I think everybody puts human rights under the carpet now and it's disappointing that in the world, human rights is a very basic value and there are less and less countries willing to come out and defend this very basic universal value."  
          
Organizers here hope for a bigger turnout on June 4th when they commemorate those who died 21 years ago.