Anadolu |
A meeting of Legislative Council (LegCo) of Hong Kong to debate on the extradition bill, which would allow suspected criminals to be sent to China for trial, was delayed due to the ongoing protests, according to South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based newspaper.
More people are continuing to join massive protests in Hong Kong that have brought the city to a standstill.
They're demonstrating against a controversial extradition bill that would allow China to extradite fugitives from Hong Kong. Live updates: https://t.co/hrFjfLCIg3 pic.twitter.com/AenaUipYtt
— CNN (@CNN) June 12, 2019
The Civil Human Rights Front movement has called on people to join the protest in large numbers. Hong Kong Police have used pepper sprays and water cannons to disperse the protesters.
Call for Unity against Extradition
According to the daily, Nathan Law, one of the leaders of Umbrella Movement in 2014, called on people to unite.
Hong Kong is governed through a dual system under which the government oversees internal affairs but foreign and defense policies are decided by China.
“There are bound to be differences, but we have to learn to trust our comrades, learn to communicate with each other,” Law, who is also an ousted lawmaker, said in his speech.
Another powerful clip to show the power of people! 1.03 million marching down to the street opposing extradition to China! pic.twitter.com/fEVQzRx5Z9
— Nathan Law 羅冠聰 (@nathanlawkc) June 9, 2019
The extradition bill will be voting in the assembly on June 20, announced previously.
The demonstrations are said to be the largest since 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement rallies in Hong Kong when protesters used umbrellas to shield against pepper spray by police.
Hong Kong is governed through a dual system under which the government oversees internal affairs but foreign and defense policies are decided by China.
Read more: “One Country, Two Systems” under threat in China: US
History Repeats Itself
(Background analysis by GVS news desk)
The Umbrella Movement was a political movement that emerged during the Hong Kong democracy protests of 2014 demanding more transparent elections. The name ‘Umbrella Revolution’ was coined by Adam Cotton on Twitter on 26 September 2014, in reference to the umbrellas used for defence against police pepper spray to disperse the crowd during a 79-day occupation of the city.
The protests caused strong differences of opinion in Hong Kong society, with a “yellow (pro-occupy) vs. blue (anti-occupy)” war being fought, and unfriending on social media, such as Facebook. In an opinion poll of Hong Kong citizens carried out since 4 October by Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 59% of the 850 people surveyed supported the protesters in their refusal to accept the government plan for the 2017 election. 29% of those questioned, the largest proportion, blamed the violence that had occurred during the demonstrations on the chief executive CY Leung.
Anadolu with additional input by GVS news desk.