Why massive turnout at march against Hong Kong’s controversial extradition bill could mean game over for leader Carrie Lam despite concessions

Chief executive has piled issue of city’s international standing onto the already long list of woes China is confronting in the ongoing trade war

There have already been two public protests against the bill, with almost 23,000 turning up at the first and 130,000 at the second

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Published: 8:00am, 7 Jun 2019Updated: 7:59pm, 7 Jun 2019

League of Social Democrats chairman Avery Ng Man-yuen recalls a recent visit to Sham Shui Po, one of Hong Kong’s poorest districts, to tell people why he opposes the government’s controversial extradition bill.

“Almost 60 people stood there as I talked about the bill,” he said. “When one or two citizens interrupted and pointed their fingers at me, others argued with them. It was something I have not seen over the past decade.”

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy bloc like to say that if ordinary housewives in public housing estates understand their cause, they are not far from success.

Ng’s experience, holding the neighbourhood crowd’s attention at his street booth, bolsters the conviction in the camp that unhappiness over the extradition bill has connected at Hong Kong’s grass roots.

Last month, hundreds of online petitions emerged within days to oppose the extradition bill, which would allow the transfer of fugitives on a case-by-case basis to jurisdictions with which Hong Kong does not have a treaty, including mainland China and Taiwan.

Expressing mistrust of the mainland’s judiciary system, students, housewives, and even new arrivals from across the border added their names to the long lists of signatures, a phenomenon rarely seen in years.