Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam announced Saturday her government will suspend a controversial bill allowing criminal suspects to be extradited to China, after massive street protests that gripped the city this week descended into violence.
Lam has faced unprecedented pressure to scrap the legislation, which its critics say could become a backdoor for China to round up political and commercial adversaries. An estimated one million people joined what is believed to have been the city’s largest ever protest on June 9, and a second round of demonstrations ended violently on Wednesday.
“After repeated internal deliberations over the last two days I now announce that the government has decided to suspend the legislative amendment exercise,” Lam said at a press conference, adding that the central government in Beijing supported the decision to take more time for discussion.
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Reiterating her position that the legislation is necessary to prevent Hong Kong from becoming a “haven” for criminals, Lam told reporters the government had not provided adequate explanation to the public. The bill, she maintained, was designed to bring justice in the case of a Hong Kong man accused of murdering his pregnant girlfriend in Taiwan in February 2018.
“The original urgency to pass the bill this legislative year is perhaps no longer there,” Lam said, a reference to statements from Taiwanese officials that it would not seek the suspect’s return under the proposed legislation. She added that a majority of lawmakers support the bill and it would not be completely withdrawn, as the protesters demand.
“As there are still loopholes in our [extradition] mechanism we are not in a position to retract this bill,” Lam said, as that would suggest that the legislation was not justified. Suspending the bill came as an abrupt about-face after Lam’s attempt to fast-track the legislation earlier this week. She said there is no timeframe for reopening debate on the matter.
Reference at: https://time.com/5607678/hong-kong-extradition-bill-suspended/
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