Hong Kong political crisis builds after huge protest
Broad business, legal and social concern over bill
HONG KONG: Hong Kong was plunged into a fresh political crisis yesterday night after several hundred thousand people took to the streets to thwart a proposed extradition law that would allow suspects to be sent to mainland China to face trial. Organizers said their initial estimates put the turnout at well over half a million people, saying it outstripped a demonstration in 2003 when 500,000 hit the streets to challenge government plans for tighter national security laws.
Those laws were later shelved and a key government official forced to resign. Yesterday’s outpouring was already raising the pressure on the administration of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and her official backers in Beijing. “She has to withdraw the bill and resign,” veteran Democratic Party lawmaker James To told crowds gathering outside the city’s parliament and government headquarters yesterday night. “The whole of Hong Kong is against her.”
After To spoke, thousands were still arriving, having started the march five hours earlier, filling four lanes of a major thoroughfare. Some sat in a nearby park singing “hallelujah”, but on a nearby road tensions were building after hours of peaceful protest. Riot police armed with batons and helmets were gathering while government-funded broadcaster RTHK reported that they used pepper spray on six masked men trying to block the road.
Lam had yet to comment on the rally. The demonstration capped weeks of growing outrage in the business, diplomatic and legal communities, which fear corrosion of Hong Kong’s legal autonomy and the difficulty of ensuring basic judicial protections in mainland China. US and European officials have issued formal warnings - concern matched by international business and human rights lobbies that fear the changes would dent Hong Kong’s rule of law.
The former British colony was handed back to Chinese rule in 1997 amid guarantees of autonomy and various freedoms including a separate legal system, which many diplomats and business leaders believe is the city’s strongest remaining asset.
The unusually broad opposition to the rendition bill displayed yesterday came amid a series of government moves to deepen links between southern mainland China and Hong Kong. Police had yet to issue their own estimate of the protest size. But as tens of thousands reached the Legislative Council in the Admiralty business district, the starting point in Victoria Park was crowded with thousands more still waiting to join the march.
Some carried yellow umbrellas - a symbol of the pro-democracy Occupy protests that choked key city streets for 79 days in 2014. Streets were packed along the route; Reuters witnesses at various key points estimated the crowd at several hundred thousand. Chants of “no China extradition, no evil law” echoed through the highrise city streets, while other marchers called for Lam and other senior officials to step down.
Good-natured protest
One protester held a sign reading “Carry off Carrie”, while another declared “Extradite yourself, Carrie”. Another sign said “let’s make Hong Kong great again”, with a photo depicting U.S. President Donald Trump firing Lam. The genial crowd included young families pushing babies in prams as well as the elderly braving 32 degree C (90∞F) heat, some spraying each other with water misters. Debates will start in the council on Wednesday on the amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance. The bill could be passed into law by the end of June.
Lam has tweaked the amendments but refused to pull the bill, saying it is vital to plug a long-standing “loophole”. She has also said speedy action is needed to ensure a Hong Kong man suspected of murdering his girlfriend can be sent to Taiwan for trial. Opposition to the bill has united a broad range of the community, from usually pro-establishment business people and lawyers to students, pro-democracy figures and religious groups. Insurance agents, executives and small entrepreneurs joined bus drivers and mechanics in the streets yesterday. Dozens of people told Reuters it was their first protest march, with some remarking on the strong sense of unity among the diverse crowds. “I come here to fight,” said a wheelchair-bound, 78-year-old man surnamed Lai, who was among the first to arrive. Schoolteacher Garry Chiu joined the protest with his wife and 1-year-old daughter, saying, “It is no longer about me.” “I need to save my daughter. If the law is implemented anyone can disappear from Hong Kong. No one will get justice in China. We know there are no human rights,” — Reuters