Hong Kong’s leader says extradition bill ‘dead’
Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam says a proposed extradition bill that had caused a ruckus in the Chinese territory “is dead,” effectively submitting to the will of its opponents.
Speaking in a press conference on Tuesday, Lam said that the government’s work on amending extradition laws via the bill had been a “total failure.”
The bill had prompted weeks of violent protests across Hong Kong. Critics said it would have dented the region’s judicial system, which is independent of mainland China.
Lam had already suspended the proposed legislation, but protests had continued, with a demand for her resignation and a complete withdrawal of the bill.
“I fully understand that the responses of the government may not have met the wishes of the people,” she said in her Tuesday remarks.
“There are still lingering doubts about the government’s sincerity or worries [about] whether the government will restart the process in the Legislative Council,” she said. “So, I reiterate here, there is no such plan. The bill is dead.”
She did not say whether she was officially withdrawing the bill, however.
Lam also called on people to “give us the opportunity, the time, the room, for us to take Hong Kong out of the current impasse and try to improve the current situation.”
Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to China in 1997 — under a “one country, two systems” deal that guarantees it a level of autonomy, including a separate and independent legal system.
Protest group refuses to agree to peace
Later in the day, the Civil Human Rights Forum, a group that has been organizing protest rallies, said more rallies would be held in the city if all of its demands were not met.
A spokeswoman for the group, Bonnie Leung, said the details of the new protests would be released in the due course.
Among the demands are Lam’s resignation and a complete withdrawal of the bill.
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