‘The government has forced people to escalate’

ignored a massive march on Sunday ca lling for t he bill to be scrapped.

“It’s t he gover nment who has forced people to esca late t hei r ac t ion s , s o I t h i n k it ’s i nev it able for t he f ig ht t his time to get heated,” said 21-y e a r- old pr ot e s t er L au Ka-chun.

Organisers said more than a million people turned out on Sunday to oppose t he proposed law, which would allow Hong Kong to send suspects to other jurisdictions around the world – including China.

But t he record nu mbers fa i led to sway Hong Kong’s pr o-Beiji ng le a der Ca r r ie Lam, who has rejected ca lls to wit hdraw t he bill.

Matthew Cheung, the cit y’s chief secreta r y, on Wednesday ca lled on demonstrators to withdraw.

“I a lso urge cit i zens who h a v e g a t h e r e d t o s h o w restraint as much as possible, disperse peacef u l ly a nd do not def y t he law,” he said in a v ideo message.

Opposit ion to t he bi l l has u n ite d a n u nusua l l y w ide cross-section of t he cit y from i n f l u e n t i a l b u s i n e s s e s a nd l a w y e r s , t o r e l i g i ou s g roups, student unions a nd workers.

We s t e r n n a t i o n s h a v e criticised the plans while Beijing has voiced support.

Opponents a re fea r f ul t he law would entangle people in t h e ma i n l a n d ’s o p a q u e courts, leav ing t hem v ulnerable to a justice system seen as acting at t he behest of t he Chinese Communist Part y.

‘Hong Kong will bleed’

Protesters vowed to stay on t he st reet s unt i l t he bi l l i s abandoned.

“Stalling is not our ultimate goa l. We need t hem to consider scrapping it,” said student Charles Lee, 23. “Clashes are unavoidable if they adopt t his at t it ude towa rds t hei r cit i zens.”

Lawmakers had been due to debate the bill on Wednesday morning in t he cit y’s legislature, which is dominated by Beijing loya lists, wit h a f inal vote expected on June 20.

It was not announced when the next meeting on the bill would be held.

“The only responsible thing to do now is for Carrie Lam to wit hdraw t he ev i l bi l l, or at least to shelve it i n order to s o l v e t h e c r i s i s ,” s a i d pr o- democ r ac y l a w ma ker Fernando Cheung.

Hong Kong’s leaders say the proposed law is needed to plug loopholes and to stop the cit y bei ng a sa nct ua r y for fugitives, and that safeguards a re i n place to ensure t hat polit ica l crit ics of Beijing will not be targeted.

But ma ny Hong Kongers have l it t le fa it h i n t he gover nment’s a ssu ra nces a f ter y e a r s of heig htene d f e a r s t hat a resu r gent Beiji ng i s t r y i ng to qua sh t he c it y ’s unique freedoms and culture – despite a 50 -yea r ag re ement bet ween Hong Kong’s for mer colon ia l r u ler, Br ita i n, a nd Chi na t hat mea ns t h e c i t y i s g u a r a n t e e d f r e e dom s u n s e en on t he Chinese mainla nd.

Hong Kong’s stock market sa n k nea rly 1.8 percent on Wednesday in t he cit y-wide turmoil.