Leading Hong Kong teachers’ union calls for class boycott after clashes over extradition bill
- Professional Teachers’ Union announced it would skip classes on Thursday and Friday
- Education Bureau opposes the call, saying politics should be kept off school campuses
The Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union (PTU), the city’s biggest pro-democracy union for educators, announced it would boycott classes on Thursday and Friday.
The union condemned the government for pushing forward the legal amendments by all means, and the Legislative Council’s president for cooperating with officials.
“Right now, with the sentiment in society rapidly worsening, [the PTU] has decided to announce a launch of class boycotts across Hong Kong for this week,” its statement read.
The union made the appeal to schools, teachers and parents, though it did not apply to kindergarten teachers. It also renewed its call for the withdrawal of the bill, which would allow the transfer of criminal suspects to jurisdictions Hong Kong has no extradition deal with. That includes mainland China, which critics say will leave Hongkongers at risk of unfair prosecution north of the border.