Hong Kong protests Chinese extradition bill

Illusive

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Hundreds of thousands of protesters shut down parts of Hong Kong yesterday, marching against a proposed law that would allow extradition to China. Organizers claim that more than 1 million demonstrators took to the streets to denounce the proposal, the largest such public demonstration in years. The city’s pro-Beijing leadership is showing no signs of backing down. As reported by the Associated Press, opponents in Hong Kong say the proposed changes “would significantly compromise [Hong Kong’s] legal independence, long viewed as one of its key distinctions from mainland China.”


Protesters march during a rally against a controversial extradition-law proposal in Hong Kong on June 9, 2019



Students chain themselves up in Hong Kong as they protest to demand that authorities scrap a proposed extradition bill with China on June 8, 2019



Police gather at a rally against a controversial extradition-law proposal in Hong Kong early on June 10, 2019



Police officers use pepper spray against protesters at the Legislative Council in Hong Kong on June 10, 2019

More images in link
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2019/06/hong-kong-extradition-bill-protests-photos/591346/
 

Illusive

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Hong Kong businesses vow to strike as anger over extradition bill grows

Protest groups to stage fresh rally and #612strike movement spreads before MPs scrutinise legislation on Wednesday

Scores of Hong Kong businesses have vowed to shut down as anger builds over government plans to push through a law allowing extraditions to China despite a huge weekend protest.

The financial hub was rocked by a huge rally on Sunday – the largest since the city’s 1997 return to China – as vast crowds called on the city’s leaders to scrap the Beijing-backed plan.

Many are fearful that the proposal will tangle people up in the mainland’s opaque courts and hammer Hong Kong’s reputation as an international business hub.

Organisers said more than a million hit the streets but the record crowds have failed to sway chief executive Carrie Lam who has rejected calls to withdraw or delay the bill.

On Wednesday the proposed law will have its second and third readings in the city’s parliament, which is dominated by Beijing loyalists, making its passing all but assured.

Protest groups have vowed to stage a fresh rally outside parliament that day and have urged people to join or to go on strike.

Business owners have taken to social media using a hashtag that translates as “612strike” – referring to 12 June, the date of Wednesday’s bill readings – to announce solidarity closures, allowing staff to join the protest.

A large chunk are small businesses that are a key part of the city’s economy, but which often eschew the city’s raucous street politics.

By Tuesday morning, more than 100 businesses had declared plans to strike, ranging from coffee shops and restaurants to camera stores, toy shops, nail salons, yoga studios and even an adult entertainment store.

“Hong Kong was built by our various generations with hard work,” wrote Meet Yoga studio on its Instagram account. “A Hong Kong without freedom – how about we just wipe it off the map entirely and call it China?”


One owner of a floral accessories store added: “I’m a Hong Kong girl who doesn’t know politics and finds pleasure in the small things of life. But even I know politics actually affects all aspects of our lives.”

Lawyer Michael Vidler said he would allow his 12 employees to “act in accordance with their conscience” and go on strike.

The proposed law would allow extraditions to any jurisdiction with which it does not already have a treaty – including mainland China.

Hong Kong’s leaders say it is needed to plug loopholes and to stop the city being a sanctuary for fugitives.

They say safeguards are in place to ensure human rights standards are upheld and that political critics of Beijing will not be targeted.

But many Hong Kongers have little faith in those assurances after years of political unrest caused by heightened fears a resurgent Beijing is trying to quash the city’s unique freedoms and culture.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...o-strike-as-anger-over-extradition-bill-grows



 

Absolut_Vodka

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Hong Kong is Chinese version of Tamil Nadu, fully in control of NGOs and missionaries. India should learn if Chinese are able to pacify the population while having it their way.
 

Illusive

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The Hong kongers would have to do better than protest if they want to save their country from Commies.

CCP can quell these lame protests with tanks if they had to.
 

Illusive

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Hong Kong may pause controversial extradition bill after mass protests.


Hong Kong (CNN) — Hong Kong's leader is expected to make an announcement Saturday on the future of a controversial China extradition bill, in an apparent bid to quell further unrest and mass demonstrationsthroughout the semi-autonomous Chinese city.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam will give a statement at 3 p.m. Hong Kong time, the government said.
Pro-democracy lawmaker Alvin Yeung told CNN that Lam is expected to use the phrase "postpone" with regard to the bill. The pro-democracy camp, of which Yeung is a member, understands there currently is no timetable in place for the resumption of talks on the bill.

A senior pro-Beijing lawmaker confirmed to CNN that Lam would announce a delay of the bill, but said it was not being shelved.
News of the impending announcement comes as multiple local media outlets reported Saturday morning that Lam was preparing to hit pause on the bill, halting its progress ahead of further consultation, in what would likely be perceived as a win for protesters and opposition groups.
Lam was holding an urgent meeting with pro-government legislators ahead of her announcement, lawmaker Priscilla Cheung confirmed to CNN.
Pausing the bill will raise questions over Lam's future. Before she became Chief Executive in 2017, Lam said she would resign "if mainstream opinion makes me no longer able to continue the job."

Mass protests
The expected announcement follows violent clashes between police and protesters Wednesday, after tens of thousands of mostly young people surrounded the city's government headquarters, forcing legislators to postpone a debate on the bill.
They were just the latest in a series of public protests against the bill, which critics fear could be used to extradite residents to mainland China for political or inadvertent business offenses.
On June 9, more than one million people took to the streets in a peaceful march against the legislation, about one in seven of the city's population -- a potential repeat of that demonstration is planned for this Sunday.
A spokesman for the Civil Human Rights Front confirmed to CNN that the march would go ahead despite news the bill may be paused. In a statement, the Democratic Party said the march would start at 2:30pm local time Sunday in Victoria Park. Protesters will wear black and demand the bill be completely withdrawn and Lam step down.

Legal concerns
Although Hong Kong is part of China, it has a different legal system -- a concept known as "one country, two systems."

Pro-democracy figures said that the bill, championed by the pro-Beijing Lam government, would lead to the erosion of civil rights in Hong Kong, including freedom of speech and rule of law.
"We are afraid that we will become a mainland city," lawmaker Fernando Cheung said Thursday. "We would no longer have rule of law, our own autonomy."

Chief Executive Carrie Lam has said the bill was necessary to ensure that Hong Kong wouldn't become a sanctuary for fugitives running from justice in mainland China.
Hong Kong's legislative council is due to go on summer recess on July 20, before beginning again in October.

https://edition-m.cnn.com/2019/06/1...intl-hnk/index.html?r=https://www.google.com/
 

Illusive

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Hong Kong protests are a loss of face for China

Hong Kong, long seen as a wealthy colony of China, suddenly asserted an independence of mind over the past two weeks. Early protests against a proposed law that would have allowed for extradition to mainland China have spiralled into giant displays of civil disobedience — the last such protest saw an estimated two million people march, the largest in the city-state’s history. The protests went against the most powerful one-party system in the world and were expected to be quickly brushed aside, as had happened in earlier protests in Hong Kong. Instead, the Hong Kong authorities have had to withdraw the bill but have so far refused demands that Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, step down from her office.

The Hong Kong protests are already being touted as a loss of face for Chinese leader, Xi Jinping. While the extradition law may not wholly have been Beijing’s doing, it did declare its support for Lam and the bill. The Chinese government has been whittling away at Hong Kong’s separate and more liberal political and social status for years. Critics of the communist regime have in the past been kidnapped from Hong Kong and reappeared as prisoners in China. The legislative council has become little more than a collection of pro-Beijing businessmen and bureaucrats. Hong Kong’s financial independence was maintained, however, because it remains the primary entrepot of external capital for the Chinese economy to this day. One fallout of the crisis is that the United States Congress is now expected to review whether it makes sense to let Hong Kong continue to enjoy that financial status, given the controlling influence of Beijing.

Unfortunately, the protests are unlikely to fundamentally change anything in Hong Kong or in China, whatever the fate of the extradition law. But they have served as a reminder to Beijing and the world, both of which were under the illusion that people of Chinese origin, if sufficiently prosperous and well governed, had little interest in their political rights. It is not without reason that Taiwan’s anti-Chinese political movement received a fillip from the developments in Hong Kong. Democracy remains a fugitive in greater China. But Hong Kong’s protests will serve as a reminder that Beijing should not assume that representative government or constitutional liberty are completely foreign to its people or its region. That recognition will inspire a small degree of doubt and fear in the Chinese leadership, especially at a time when Xi and his cohorts have closed the door on dissent and free expression on the mainland
.
 

Longewala

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Hong Kong is Chinese version of Tamil Nadu, fully in control of NGOs and missionaries. India should learn if Chinese are able to pacify the population while having it their way.
If India were China, Tamil would have been banned, the Tamil chsuvanists woukd all ve in jail for life and millions of Tamils would be in re-education camps.

Indians (not just Tamils) just don't know how good they have it, when you see some Tamil idiots screaming about "imposition" of Hindu, they don't really know what imposition and centralised authoritarianism really is.
 

Absolut_Vodka

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What's happening in Hong Kong? This no longer seems to be about extradition bill but reunion with UK. Chinese policy makers have failed miserably.
 

ezsasa

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What is stopping HKers from demanding complete freedom as an independent country?

They are an island aren’t they?
 

captscooby81

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No they are not an island . they are similar to singapore a rock city just at the tip of the mainland towards the coast ..

I think they cant ask for independence as CCP will chop their balls and feed to their pigs ..


What is stopping HKers from demanding complete freedom as an independent country?

They are an island aren’t they?
 

Vijyes

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If India were China, Tamil would have been banned, the Tamil chsuvanists woukd all ve in jail for life and millions of Tamils would be in re-education camps.

Indians (not just Tamils) just don't know how good they have it, when you see some Tamil idiots screaming about "imposition" of Hindu, they don't really know what imposition and centralised authoritarianism really is.
Again, nonsense. It is not that there is a superman who is all powerful and can do anything. War on the basis of language can turn deadly and result in revolution, killing the entire leadership and their lackeys who do stupid things.

What is stopping HKers from demanding complete freedom as an independent country?

They are an island aren’t they?
They are just 70lakh people in a single city. They rely on China for their trade and money. Moreover, they are also of HAN ethnicity and speak Chinese language (Cantonese). They can't simply ask for independence. There is no real desire to separate themselves.

The current protest is only by some NGOs and businesses nurtured by UK till 1996 and now acting in fear of being shut down.

Chinese have a problem in that they can't openly tell things as they are as that can disrupt lot of business in Hong Kong and cause big loss overall. So, they are adjusting for now.
 

asianobserve

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I love HK as it's the first foreign territory I've been to and it's a shame that China is destroying it. China is alao destroying the natural resources in our EEZ.
 

SKC

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Again, nonsense. It is not that there is a superman who is all powerful and can do anything. War on the basis of language can turn deadly and result in revolution, killing the entire leadership and their lackeys who do stupid things.


They are just 70lakh people in a single city. They rely on China for their trade and money. Moreover, they are also of HAN ethnicity and speak Chinese language (Cantonese). They can't simply ask for independence. There is no real desire to separate themselves.

The current protest is only by some NGOs and businesses nurtured by UK till 1996 and now acting in fear of being shut down.

Chinese have a problem in that they can't openly tell things as they are as that can disrupt lot of business in Hong Kong and cause big loss overall. So, they are adjusting for now.
Correct and morever HK is no longer a special city. Already multiple cities in China has built up massive infrastructure and economy .
I work in Shanghai and it is much better here in terms of lifestyle and work culture.

Sent from my ASUS_X00TD using Tapatalk
 

Illusive

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Hong Kong leader Lam says China extradition bill 'dead'

Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam has declared that the extradition bill that sparked the territory's biggest political crisis in decades is "dead".

The bill, which would have allowed people in Hong Kong to be sent to mainland China to face trial, sparked huge and at times violent street protests.

In mid-June, Ms Lam responded to the protests by suspending the bill, but that move failed to mollify critics, who continued to demonstrate against the bill and call for Ms Lam's resignation.

In a televised address, Ms Lam admitted the government's work on the bill had been a "total failure" and pledged a new approach.

She agreed to meet students in public without preconditions and said she recognised that the city was facing an unprecedented array of challenges.

"I come to the conclusion that there are some fundamental and deep-seated problems in Hong Kong society," she said.



"It could be economic problems, it could be livelihood issues, it could be political divisions in society," she said.

"So the first thing we should do is identify those fundamental issues and hopefully to find some solutions to move forward."

However, Ms Lam shied away from other key protester demands, including calls for an independent judge to head up a commission of inquiry into police tactics, saying the city's current police complaints mechanism was conducting its own investigation.

Public anger soared after police officers used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters outside parliament last month.



 

Illusive

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Hong Kong protesters throw Chinese flag into iconic harbour, call for mass strike on Monday

With yellow and white hard hats on, a sea of people, mostly clad in black, chanted “age of revolution!”, “Hongkongers ass oil!”. This is how the activists kicked off anti-government demonstrations in Hong Kong’s Mong Kok on Saturday marking another weekend of protest against a proposed bill allowing people to be extradited to undergo trial in mainland China. With civil servants joining the protests despite warning from the administration, the protesters have called for a mass strike on Monday.

Besides, protesters removed a Chinese national flag from its pole and flung it into the city’s iconic Victoria Harbour on Saturday after a pro-democracy rally once again continued into the evening despite police warnings to stick to a short, pre-approved route.

More protests ahead
However, more anti-government protests are scheduled for Sunday with a mass strike on Monday, as the protesters continue to be angered over the government’s refusal to communicate, violent ways of police to put an end to the protests and the arrest of 44 people this week on rioting charges.

US behind unrest, says China
The Xinhua News Agency on Friday had quoted China’s State Councilor Yang Jiechi who blamed the US and some western governments for fanning the unrest in Hong Kong. Earlier, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and other officials and diplomats had also claimed that “western forces” were behind the protests. According to reports by the Chinese media, the head of the police union had called for a probe into the alleged role of the US in the Hong Kong crisis
 

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Hong Kong protesters throw Chinese flag into iconic harbour, call for mass strike on Monday

With yellow and white hard hats on, a sea of people, mostly clad in black, chanted “age of revolution!”, “Hongkongers ass oil!”. This is how the activists kicked off anti-government demonstrations in Hong Kong’s Mong Kok on Saturday marking another weekend of protest against a proposed bill allowing people to be extradited to undergo trial in mainland China. With civil servants joining the protests despite warning from the administration, the protesters have called for a mass strike on Monday.

Besides, protesters removed a Chinese national flag from its pole and flung it into the city’s iconic Victoria Harbour on Saturday after a pro-democracy rally once again continued into the evening despite police warnings to stick to a short, pre-approved route.

More protests ahead
However, more anti-government protests are scheduled for Sunday with a mass strike on Monday, as the protesters continue to be angered over the government’s refusal to communicate, violent ways of police to put an end to the protests and the arrest of 44 people this week on rioting charges.

US behind unrest, says China
The Xinhua News Agency on Friday had quoted China’s State Councilor Yang Jiechi who blamed the US and some western governments for fanning the unrest in Hong Kong. Earlier, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and other officials and diplomats had also claimed that “western forces” were behind the protests. According to reports by the Chinese media, the head of the police union had called for a probe into the alleged role of the US in the Hong Kong crisis
Chinese are feeling the heat of being called as superpower
 

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