HONG KONG: Hong Kong's leader today warned against fresh pro-democracy protests ahead of the next step in the city's contentious political reform process, as a new official report on the mass rallies sparked widespread anger.

The government will tomorrow launch a second round of public consultation on the process for electing the city's next chief executive.

China has pledged that Hong Kong will be able to choose its own leader for the first time in 2017.

But it ruled in August that candidates will be screened by a loyalist committee -- a decision that sparked more than two months of large-scale pro-democracy protests.

The new consultation will be the first official reform exercise since the authorities cleared the main pro-democracy protest camps in December.

But campaigners are pessimistic that any meaningful proposals will be on the table.

Current leader Leung Chun-ying reiterated the government's hard line today and said any voting system would stick to the framework laid down by China.

"If we really want to implement universal suffrage on 2017, we...should not do anything that threatens the Hong Kong government or the Central Government," Leung told reporters.

He said that the process must stick to the city's constitution and that "coercive actions that are illegal or disrupt social order" would not change anything.

The public should take a "legal, rational and pragmatic" approach in expressing opinions, Leung added.

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Hong Kong leader warns against fresh pro-democracy protests ahead of reform talks