Hong Kong authorities are set to formally withdraw an unpopular extradition bill that sparked months of chaotic protests in the semi-autonomous Chinese city.The security chief is likely to announce the bill’s withdrawal in the city’s legislature very soon.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam had proposed the amendments to resolve a case involving a man wanted for murder in Taiwan who could not be sent to the self-ruled island because there was no extradition agreement in place. But the proposal stoked widespread fears residents would be put at risk of being sent into mainland China’s Communist Party-controlled judicial system, and Lam was forced to drop the bill in the face of fierce opposition.
The crisis has snowballed into demands for universal suffrage and an investigation into police tactics.
Under a deal signed with Britain, authoritarian China agreed to allow Hong Kong to keep its unique freedoms when it was handed back in 1997.But many Hong Kongers feel those freedoms are being chipped away, especially since China’s hardline president Xi Jinping came to power. In the last three months millions of people have hit the streets
The 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests are a series of ongoing demonstrations against the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019 proposed by the Hong Kong government.