HONG KONG — Thousands of people returned on Sunday to streets near Hong Kong government headquarters — the site last year of months of student-led protests for freer elections — hoping to press lawmakers to block Beijing’s plan for selecting the city’s top official in 2017.

In contrast with the hope for change, however small, that pervaded the early days of the protests last year, the protesters on Sunday said they did not hold out hope for last-minute concessions from Beijing or the Hong Kong government. Instead, they called on the pro-democracy members of the legislature to vote down the plan, as they have repeatedly promised they would.

“We know that Beijing will not budge,” said Nathan Law, leader of the Federation of Students, a leading student group in the protests last year, which blocked major roads around government offices and in other key districts in the city of seven million. “We’re here to tell the legislators to keep to their promises and veto the proposal.”