Hong Kong bill actuates upheaval
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam faced calls from both outside and within her government Friday to delay extradition legislation that has spurred massive protests.
Some members of the Executive Council, Hong Kong’s Cabinet, said she should perhaps rethink plans to rush the bills’ passage.
A group of former senior government officials urged her not to force a confrontation by pushing ahead with the unpopular bills, which would allow Hong Kong suspects to be tried in mainland China.
Many in Hong Kong fear the measures would undermine the former British colony’s legal autonomy.
Hong Kong’s busy downtown area was calm Friday morning after days of protests by students and human rights activists.
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets Sunday, challenging Lam’s 2-year-old government, and protesters had kept up a presence through Thursday, singing hymns and holding up signs criticizing the police for their handling of the demonstrations.
Demonstrators say they are committed to preventing the government from enacting amendments they see as eroding the freedoms and protections promised when Britain ended its colonial rule of the city in 1997, handing sovereignty to Beijing.
Calls to amend the plan or for Carrie Lam to step down are coming from many sectors.
“If the momentum continues to grow, then there is a high possibility that Xi Jinping might strike for a compromise and postpone the bill indefinitely,” Willy Lam, an expert on Chinese politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said. “There’s a possibility Beijing might strike a compromise and the blame will be put on Carrie Lam.”
U.S. calls for inquiry
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Tibor Nagy described the attack on a long-running sit-in near the military headquarters in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, as “just devastating,” as he pushed Friday for Sudan to carry out an “independent and credible” investigation into the military crackdown that left scores of pro-democracy protesters dead.
Medical organizations linked to the protesters put the toll at least 118, while the military-led transitional government has acknowledged that at least 60 were killed when security forces cleared the square.
“We believe very strongly there has to be an independent, credible investigation to figure out what exactly happened, why it happened, who gave the orders, how many victims there were,” Mr. Nagy said.
The Transitional Military Council said it was carrying out its own investigation and would announce the results Saturday, rejecting an international role.
Mr. Nagy, however, said an independent investigation was important because of the “whole concept of impunity.”