Carrie Lam withdraws extradition bill; protesters vow to press on until all demands were met
DHARAMSALA 5 Sept: The Chief Executive of Hong Kong has announced the withdrawal of the controversial extradition bill that led to the three months of mass protest is the island.
Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam announced her government’s decision to formally withdraw the extradition bill in a pre-recorded five-minute televised address earlier on Wednesday where she described the move to “fully allay public concerns,” the Guardian reported.
She further expressed her hopes that the move would bring an end to the political crisis in the region.
Though it is the bill that sparked the protests, its withdrawal only meets one of out of the five demands made by the pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
The protester’s other demands include the resignation of Hong Kong Chief executive Carrie Lam, an inquiry into police brutality, the release of all the arrested protesters and greater democratic reforms in Hong Kong.
The organiser of several large marches over the course of the protest, Civil Human Rights Front(CHRF) has vowed to continue with protests until all five demands were met.
“The withdrawal of the bill is too little too late,” Bonnie Leung, vice convener for CHRF was quoted as saying in the report.
“One demand has been accepted so we maybe can celebrate a bit,” she has said and added, “But we see police brutality every day, we have victims every day. We cannot just leave it. Hong Kong people will still fight for justice and fight for the future of Hong Kong.”
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Chief Executive has said that Beijing “understands, respects and supports” the withdrawal of the city’s controversial extradition bill. However, the report noted that the response to its withdrawal was muted in China.
On the microblog Weibo, news of the withdrawal appeared to be censored and there were few reports of the news in Chinese state media, the report added.
