AFP :
Huge protest crowds thronged Hong Kong on Sunday as anger swells over plans to allow extradition to China, a proposal that has sparked the biggest public backlash against the city’s pro-Beijing leadership in years.
Tens of thousands of people marched in blazing summer heat through the cramped streets of the financial hub’s main island in a noisy, colourful demonstration calling on the government to scrap its planned extradition law.
The city’s pro-Beijing leaders are pushing a bill through the legislature that would allow extraditions to any jurisdiction with which it does not already have a treaty-including mainland China for the first time.
Dense crowds chanting “Scrap the evil law!” and “Oppose China extradition!” stretched for miles.
Coffee shop owner Marco Ng said he was closing his store to join the march.
“Our city matters more than our business,” the 26-year-old told AFP. “If we don’t speak out, then there’s no way that the government will listen to our concerns.”
“The people’s voices are not being heard,” added 18-year-old student Ivan Wong. “This bill will not just affect Hong Kong’s reputation as an international finance centre, but also our judicial system. That has an impact on my future.” The proposed law has sparked an opposition that unites a wide demographic, setting off the largest demonstrations since 2014 when pro-democracy protests brought parts of the city to a standstill for two months. Lawyers have held sombre marches dressed in black, anonymous senior judges have given critical media interviews and the city’s two main legal groups-the Law Society and the Bar Association-have urged a rethink. Business figures are also rattled with multiple chambers of commerce and commercial groups expressing alarm, adding to criticism from the United States, Canada, former colonial power Britain and many European governments.
Hong Kong’s leaders, who are not popularly elected, say the law is needed to plug loopholes and stop the city being a bolthole for mainland fugitives. They say dissidents and critics will not be extradited and have urged the bill’s quick passage to extradite a Hong Kong man who is wanted in Taiwan for murdering his girlfriend. But critics fear the law would entangle people in China’s opaque and politicised court system and say the government is using the Taiwan case as a Trojan Horse.
The proposed law has been fast-tracked through the city’s government-dominated legislature and on Wednesday it will receive its second reading, with plans to have the law on the statute book by late July.
Previous sessions in parliament have descended into chaos with rival lawmakers scuffling. Sunday’s march was seen by organisers as an attempt to showcase how wide the opposition to the bill is ahead of the second reading. The backlash creates a headache for the city’s appointed leader Carrie Lam who has staked her political reputation on the bill passing. Ignoring such a huge turnout could fuel popular anger or even a return to the unrest of 2014 — but backtracking might embolden opponents and anger Beijing.
Several senior Communist Party leaders in China have voiced support for the bill.
In recent weeks Lam’s administration has made some key concessions.
Tens of thousands of people marched in blazing summer heat through the cramped streets of the financial hub’s main island in a noisy, colourful demonstration calling on the government to scrap its planned extradition law.
The city’s pro-Beijing leaders are pushing a bill through the legislature that would allow extraditions to any jurisdiction with which it does not already have a treaty-including mainland China for the first time.
Dense crowds chanting “Scrap the evil law!” and “Oppose China extradition!” stretched for miles.
Coffee shop owner Marco Ng said he was closing his store to join the march.
“Our city matters more than our business,” the 26-year-old told AFP. “If we don’t speak out, then there’s no way that the government will listen to our concerns.”
“The people’s voices are not being heard,” added 18-year-old student Ivan Wong. “This bill will not just affect Hong Kong’s reputation as an international finance centre, but also our judicial system. That has an impact on my future.” The proposed law has sparked an opposition that unites a wide demographic, setting off the largest demonstrations since 2014 when pro-democracy protests brought parts of the city to a standstill for two months. Lawyers have held sombre marches dressed in black, anonymous senior judges have given critical media interviews and the city’s two main legal groups-the Law Society and the Bar Association-have urged a rethink. Business figures are also rattled with multiple chambers of commerce and commercial groups expressing alarm, adding to criticism from the United States, Canada, former colonial power Britain and many European governments.
Hong Kong’s leaders, who are not popularly elected, say the law is needed to plug loopholes and stop the city being a bolthole for mainland fugitives. They say dissidents and critics will not be extradited and have urged the bill’s quick passage to extradite a Hong Kong man who is wanted in Taiwan for murdering his girlfriend. But critics fear the law would entangle people in China’s opaque and politicised court system and say the government is using the Taiwan case as a Trojan Horse.
The proposed law has been fast-tracked through the city’s government-dominated legislature and on Wednesday it will receive its second reading, with plans to have the law on the statute book by late July.
Previous sessions in parliament have descended into chaos with rival lawmakers scuffling. Sunday’s march was seen by organisers as an attempt to showcase how wide the opposition to the bill is ahead of the second reading. The backlash creates a headache for the city’s appointed leader Carrie Lam who has staked her political reputation on the bill passing. Ignoring such a huge turnout could fuel popular anger or even a return to the unrest of 2014 — but backtracking might embolden opponents and anger Beijing.
Several senior Communist Party leaders in China have voiced support for the bill.
In recent weeks Lam’s administration has made some key concessions.
