On Sunday April 28, tens of thousands of Hong Kong citizens took to the streets to protest the Hong Kong court’s verdict on the leaders of the Chinese occupation movement and the Hong Kong government’s amendment of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance. Numbers of groups, including the Civil Human Rights Front in Hong Kong, organized the protest. According to news from the Hong Kong police, during the peak time, 20,000 participated in the protest. The protesters came from a wide background, including Hong Kong’s famous singers Anthony Wong, Yiu-ming, and Denise Ho.
The slogan of the protest was mainly to ask the government to withdraw the revised plan for the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and safeguard the rule of law and freedom of speech in Hong Kong. Since March, the Hong Kong Government has been promoting the revision of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance, which has caused widespread concern. If the proposal of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance becomes law, for the first time, there will be an extradition arrangement between Hong Kong and the mainland. A large number of politicians in Hong Kong believe that the Chinese government may use this bill to extradite political prisoners from Hong Kong to the Mainland. However, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said at the beginning of April that the revision of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance will be promoted. The Hong Kong government established a special committee and held its first meeting last week. The tough stance of the Hong Kong Government has left the people of Hong Kong worried. According to Radio France Internationale, in the parade held this Sunday, some people kept shouting “Carrie Lam should step down!” A spokesman for the Hong Kong Government said, in response to the demonstration, that the amendment of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance is in line with the spirit of the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary in Hong Kong.
This protest is the second demonstration within one month and the scale was even larger than the previous one.
Source: Radio Free Asia, April 28, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/9-04282019163051.html