Hong Kong: Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam on Tuesday said a widely loathed proposal to allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland “is dead” — but again stopped short of protester demands to withdraw the bill.
The finance hub has been plunged into its worst crisis in recent history following a month of huge marches as well as separate violent confrontations with police involving a minority of hardcore protesters.
“There are still lingering doubts about the government’s sincerity or worries (about) whether the government will restart the process with the Legislative Council,” she said in a press conference. “So I reiterate here, there is no such plan. The bill is dead.”
The rallies were sparked by a now-suspended law that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China. But they have since morphed into a wider movement calling for democratic reforms and a halt to sliding freedoms in the semi-autonomous territory.
Public anger has soared against the city’s pro-Beijing leaders and its police force after officers used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters outside parliament last month.
Lam has made very few public appearances in recent weeks.
But on Tuesday she resurfaced to hold a press conference in which she made her most conciliatory comments to date.
She described her administration’s attempt to introduce the extradition bill as “a complete failure”, agreed to meet students in public without preconditions and said she recognised that the city was facing an unprecedented array of challenges. (AFP)
