Wed 04 September 2019:
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has caved into pressure from protesters by withdrawing the bill. Speaking in a video statement Lam cited the need to “allay public concerns.”
Carrie Lam has withdrawn the bill that triggered mass protests, confirming earlier reports from the South China Morning Post, Cable TV and online news portal HK01.
“The government will formally withdraw the bill in order to fully allay public concerns,” chief executive Carrie Lam said in a video statement released via her office.
The bill, which sparked months of violent protests, would have allowed individuals from Hong Kong accused of having committed crimes in mainland China to be extradited and tried there.
In response to the earlier reports that the bill would be withdrawn, Hong Kong’s benchmark stock index, the Hang Seng, rose by nearly 4%.
Too little, too late?
During the public announcement Lam also pledged that the government would support an inquiry by the Hong Kong Independent Police Complaints Council into police brutality, which would be joined by overseas experts and two government appointees.
However, for Joshua Wong, a prominent pro-democracy activist, the measure to withdraw the bill was “too little, too late.” He called the move a “tactic” and urged the world not to be deceived by the Hong Kong and the Beijing governments. He added “They have conceded nothing in fact, and a full-scale clampdown is on the way.”
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