Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announces formal withdrawal of the extradition bill and sets up a platform to look into key causes of protest crisis
- City’s leader finally agrees to one of protesters’ five demands after weeks of insisting bill would not be withdrawn
She will also set up an investigative platform to look into the fundamental causes of the social unrest and suggest solutions for the way forward — though stopping short of turning it into a full-fledged commission of inquiry, as demanded by protesters.
The decision to withdraw the bill will mean that the government is finally acceding to at least one of the five demands of the protesters, who have taken to the streets over the past 13 weeks to voice not just their opposition to the legislation, but the overall governance of the city in demonstrations that have become increasingly violent.
Apart from the formal withdrawal of the legislation, the protesters have asked for the government to set up a commission of inquiry to investigate police conduct in tackling the protests; grant amnesty to those who have been arrested; stop characterising the protests as riots; and restart the city’s stalled political reform process.
Whether they will view the investigative committee as adequate in meeting the call for a commission remains to be seen. Concerning the bill’s withdrawal, a government source said that Lam will emphasise that the move is a technical procedure to streamline the legislative agenda, with the Legislative Council set to reopen in October after its summer break.
They argued that for as long as the bill remained on the legislative agenda, there was every chance it could be resuscitated within the Legislative Council’s current term, which ends next year.
Lam dug her heels in, saying the bill was suspended to signal that the government’s intention – to close existing loopholes to the legislation to pursue criminals who were treating the city as a safe haven – remained a worthy and legitimate goal.