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

The drills were meant to assess the preparedness of the police to deal with a terror attack, the authorities say.

A video of a mock terror excercise in Gujarat's Surat district shows five policemen restraining three dummy militants wearing Muslim skullcaps and long tunics.

In another video, the security forces are shown holding two alleged terrorists at the site of Gujarat's Narmada dam. The men shout: "Take our lives if you want. Islam zindabad (long live Islam)."

Modi's silence on these issues is emboldening extremist Hindus, say critics

A number of political parties, including the Islamic organizations, condemned the "stereotyping of Muslims," who make up nearly 14 percent of the country's 1.2 billion population.

With both videos going viral on social media, the state's police and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in power in the western state of Gujarat as well as the capital New Delhi, have come under heavy criticism.

"The mock drill was a routine police exercise conducted a week ago. If such an incident (portrayal of Muslims as terrorists) had taken place, we will conduct an inquiry and take necessary action against those responsible," Jaypalsinh Rathore, a senior police official, told DW.

The police further said the drills were carried out ahead of two high-profile events in the state: Pravasi Bharatiya Divas - to acknowledge the contribution of overseas Indians to the country's development; and the Vibrant Gujarat Investors Summit later this month, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Secretary of State John Kerry will take part.

Angry reactions

After coming under fire, Gujarat's chief minister, Anandiben Patel, admitted it was a "mistake" to show dummy terrorists in the drill as Muslims, and that it was "wrong to associate a religion with terrorism."

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Anger over India's mock drills showing Muslims as terrorists