Hong Kong extradition bill still in stalemate after both sides fail to agree on compromises ahead of Tuesday’s bills committee meeting
- Opposition camp pour scorn on peace offering from Paul Tse who is likely to chair committee that could scrutinise the bill
- Former Legislative Council president calls on lawmakers from both sides to sit down and talk rather than ‘posing as gladiators’
Hong Kong’s legislature is facing another chaotic showdown on Tuesday between lawmakers from rival camps after they failed to agree on a last-minute compromise over scrutinising the government’s contentious extradition bill.
The pro-establishment camp and opposition pan-democrats on Monday could not see eye-to-eye on cancelling a bills committee meeting on Tuesday or setting up another dedicated task force to study the legislation which, if passed, would allow the transfer of fugitives from Hong Kong to other jurisdictions with which the city does not have an extradition deal, including mainland China.
The city is facing a political crisis that has triggered unprecedented clashes in the Legislative Council over the government’s campaign to push ahead with the bill.
Chaos erupted on Saturday as the two camps tried to simultaneously convene separate meetings to scrutinise the bill, each claiming the other was unconstitutional.
Tensions continued to flare on Monday as lawmakers from both sides took the Saturday chaos to the police.