Hong Kong’s so-called “popular uprising” kicked off with a bang last night as thousands of pro-democracy supporters swamped Central’s Charter Garden last night in a strident rally.

After months of deliberation, five pro-democracy lawmakers from the League of Social Democrats and Civic Party resigned from the legislature on Tuesday in defiance of Hong Kong’s snail-paced political reform. The five will contest by-elections, which they say are a de-facto referendum on faster democratic development.

Yesterday’s gathering was a buoyant affair, with more than 1,000 supporters cheering, waving batons, and chanting alongside radical lawmaker 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung's unkeyed version of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin." Audrey Eu, spokesperson for the mass resignation and chairwoman of the Civic Party, said they’re launching a “new democratic movement.” (ammended at 8:12pm on January 28)

In other news

Pro-Beijing lawmakers' paradox: Pro-establishment lawmakers were so upset with pro-democracy legislators' mass resignation that they walked out of the Legislative Council meeting yesterday, effectively aborting the session and preventing the resigned members from making their resignation speeches. "After condemning me so many times for disrupting the meetings, they are now doing it themselves. Shame on them," said 'Long Hair,' one of the lawmakers who resigned.

Police-slapper: Amina Mariam Bokhary, the 33-year-old niece of Court of Final Appeal judge Justice Kemal Bokhary, slapped a policeman yesterday when he stopped her for drunk driving. Bokhary had just completed 240 hours of community service for assaulting a policewoman and a taxi driver in July 2008.