At least 1,000 people marched through Hong Kong on Sunday over the death of Chinese dissident Li Wangyang, who was jailed for more than 22 years after the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests.

The demonstrators shouted slogans calling for justice for Li and condemning the "butcher regime" in Beijing, after the 62-year-old dissident died at a hospital in central China.

The protesters marched from central Hong Kong to the Chinese government's liaison office, where they laid flowers and made insulting gestures.

According to the New York-based Human Rights in China, two of Li's relatives found him on Wednesday morning strung up to a ward windowsill by a bandage wrapped around his neck, with his feet on the ground.

Li was under round-the-clock police surveillance in the hospital at the time, the group said.

He had been sentenced to 13 years in prison for "counter-revolutionary" crimes for organising workers in Shaoyang into an autonomous union during the 1989 Tiananmen protests, HRIC said.

He served 11 years and was released, but was given another 10 years' jail in 2001 for "inciting subversion" after he tried to sue the authorities over prison mistreatment that left him disabled.

Thousands of people from China and around the world have signed an online petition calling on China to launch a public investigation into Li's death.

University starts fund to honor slain Chinese student
Montreal (AFP) June 8, 2012 - Montreal's Concordia University set up a fund Friday to honor a Chinese student whose appalling murder has sent shock waves across Canada and the world.

Lin Jun, a 33-year-old Chinese national studying in Montreal, was allegedly murdered, dismembered and filmed by Luka Rocco Magnotta, who was arrested this week in Germany and awaits extradition.

"This has been a very emotional and heartbreaking journey for the Lin family," the university said.

The fund, which is open to the public for donations, would help Chinese students at Concordia as well as defray the expenses of the victim's family, who have traveled from China to Montreal.

"Concordia is pleased to announce that we are establishing the Jun Lin Family Fund to provide financial assistance for the immediate needs of the Lin family. We are also creating the Jun Lin Award to benefit Chinese students studying at the university," the administration said.

Concordia's Chinese Students Association, which had already been collecting money to help the family, was pleased with the announcement.

"The university has good ways to help people donate. We're happy about this," Yan Shi, head of Concordia's Chinese Students Association told AFP.

Yan Shi was part of a delegation that met Lin's mother, father, sister and at the airport when they arrived late Tuesday.

Lin's mother was stricken with grief and could barely contain her emotion upon her arrival, Yan Shi said.

"We have come to take you home," his mother said of her son, sobbing.

Yan Shi told AFP that "the family is strong but his mother is still very emotional."

"We don't know how they feel inside. We can only imagine," adding that the mother stayed in the hotel yesterday while the father and uncle met with authorities.

Donations to the fund can be made at http://www.concordia.ca/alumni-giving/giving/areas-to-support/in-memory-of-jun-lin/