KRGV.com

HONG KONG (AP) Thousands of people have marched in Hong Kong on the first day of 2013 to call for the city's Beijing-backed leader to step down over allegations he was untruthful about illegal renovations at his mansion.

Police say 17,000 people gathered at the start of the march Tuesday. Organizers say 130,000 took part.

They carried banners and chanted slogans urging Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to resign.

The protest comes half a year after Leung took office after being chosen by a committee of mostly pro-Beijing elites. Leung got the job after a scandal over a huge, illegal basement brought down his rival.

But illegal structures were later discovered at Leung's house. Demonstrators are using the controversy to push for full democracy for the former British colony, which is now a semiautonomous region of China.