Hong Kong activists vow to continue protests
HONG KONG (dpa) — The organizers of mass anti-government rallies in Hong Kong said on Wednesday they would continue to protest even if the city’s leadership withdraws a legislative bill that has plunged Hong Kong into a three-month-long political crisis.
Bonnie Leung, the co-convenor of Civil Human Rights Front, said simply withdrawing the bill would not appease anti-government protesters whose demands have grown in recent months.
They now include additional requirements that Chief Executive Carrie Lam step down, form an independent commission into police violence, and remove the charge of rioting from arrested protesters who had been charged and from those due to be released. Many have added calls for political reform and democratic elections to their list.
“It is the slogan that is roaring in the streets, even on the 18th of August, 1.7 million people roaring the same slogan: ‘Five demands no less’” said Leung.
“Without an independent inquiry, our society simply cannot move on because what we are seeing now is that police beat up people indiscriminately every single day. They use excessive force, lethal weapons against protesters every single day,” she said.
Joshua Wong, a prominent Kong Hong pro-democracy activist, said that protests must continue until at least China’s national day on Oct. 1.
“Beijing and Chinese authorities just try to stop our protests by announcing such withdrawal of the bill,” Wong said at a discussion held in central Taiwan late Wednesday.
A student protester named Vicky, who volunteers as a first-aid medic at protests, told dpa that she also thought demonstrations would continue until all of their demands were met.
“If Carrie Lam had chosen to withdraw the billing in June, or even in early July the movement would die down eventually. However what happened in these three months ... it is simply impossible for protesters to move on without a proper investigation on the Hong Kong Police Force and release of protesters,” she said, naming a number of violent clashes between police and residents.
HK stocks surge
HONG KONG (Reuters) — Hong Kong’s main share index surged more than 4 percent on Wednesday, ahead of the government’s formal withdrawal of the proposed extradition bill that sparked three months of protests in the former British colony.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam later announced the formal withdrawal of the bill at a meeting after markets closed, a source at that meeting told Reuters.
The move would meet one of the protesters’ key demands.
The Hang Seng closed at its highest in a month at 26,523.23 points, having rallied over 4 percent at one point, outpacing the 1.6 percent gains in MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares ex-Japan and 0.9 percent rise in Shanghai shares.
Property stocks jumped 7.4 percent while the financial sector sub-index climbed 3.8 percent.
Flag carrier Cathay Pacific, which has been caught in the crossfire between Chinese authorities and protesters in Hong Kong, rallied more than 7 percent.
“There are people covering their short positions and bargain hunting on local blue chips,” said Alex Wang, director at Ample Finance Group, as investors hope the formal withdrawal of the bill “will calm down the situation in the society.”
The protests against the bill, that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, began in March but snowballed in June and have since evolved into a push for greater democracy.
It was not immediately clear if the announcement of the bill’s withdrawal would help end the unrest.
Dogged by escalations in local protests and the U.S.-China trade war, the Hang Seng lost 7.4 percent in August.
The double whammy has dampened business activity and dragged property prices in Hong Kong, one of the most expensive real estate markets in the world.