Hong Kong Formally Withdraws Extradition Bill That Sparked Mass Protests

too little too late

Hong Kong Formally Withdraws Extradition Bill That Sparked Mass Protests

(ZeroHedge)  The government of Hong Kong on Wednesday formally withdrew an unpopular extradition bill which sparked months of anti-government protests. 

“I now formally announce the withdrawal of the bill,” Secretary for Security John Lee announced during a legislative meeting.

The bill was initially proposed in February by Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam in order to resolve a legal case involving a suspected murderer who couldn’t be extradited to Taiwan to face trial. The proposal sparked immediate fears that anyone could be plucked off the street and sent to mainland China to face Communist Party-controlled courts. Shortly after they began, the protests turned into a general anti-government movement, which has picked up in violence in recent weeks.

Now, after assurances from Ms Lam in September that the bill would be scrapped in the next meeting of the state’s legislative council, it has been formally withdrawn by Secretary for Security John Lee.

In July, with the city crippled by a summer of disruption, Ms Lam said the government’s work on the legislation had been a “total failure” and declared the controversial bill “dead” – stopping short of a full withdrawal. –Independent

And while the bill has been formally withdrawn, the move is unlikely to slow down the weekly demonstrations and deter further conflict. Since the protests began, the movement’s goals have shifted from the extradition bill to securing independence from China and Lam’s resignation.

“There aren’t any big differences between suspension and withdrawal of the extradition bill… It’s too little, too late,” said 27-year-old protesters “Connie,” hours before the bill was withdrawn. “There are still other demands the government needs to meet, especially the problem of police brutality.”

Lam (pictured), meanwhile, is reportedly on the chopping block nearly three months after she admitted on a secret recording that she would love to quit


As we noted earlier, the FT reported that Beijing is drawing up plans to replace Lam with an “interim” executive. However, the report has been strenuously denied by the government. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Wednesday that the government still “firmly backs” Lam and that the report is a”political rumor with ulterior motives.”


Either way, we doubt Lam’s ouster would do much to change protesters’ minds either. 

*********

(TLB) published this article from ZeroHedge as compiled and commented on by Tyler Durden.

••••

••••

••••

Stay tuned to …

••••

The Liberty Beacon Project is now expanding at a near exponential rate, and for this we are grateful and excited! But we must also be practical. For 7 years we have not asked for any donations, and have built this project with our own funds as we grew. We are now experiencing ever increasing growing pains due to the large number of websites and projects we represent. So we have just installed donation buttons on our websites and ask that you consider this when you visit them. Nothing is too small. We thank you for all your support and your considerations … (TLB)

••••

Comment Policy: As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats of violence, racism, or personal/abusive attacks on other users. This also applies to trolling, the use of more than one alias, or just intentional mischief. Enforcement of this policy is at the discretion of this websites administrators. Repeat offenders may be blocked or permanently banned without prior warning.

••••

Disclaimer: TLB websites contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, health, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.

••••

Disclaimer: The information and opinions shared are for informational purposes only including, but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material are not intended as medical advice or instruction. Nothing mentioned is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*