On June 16th, a rally was held in Washington DC as a part of global solidarity rallies against a proposed extradition bill that the Hong Kong government intended to pass until its suspension last weekend...
Yesterday's march against the Beijing-backed extradition bill pushed for by the Hong Kong government ended without major incident, with over two million residents of Hong Kong taking to the streets by the time of the demonstration’s end. But with the Hong Kong government not yet withdrawing the extradition bill, more protests are expected for today, inclusive of another call for a general strike...
Demonstrators marched through the streets of Hong Kong in the thousands once again today in order to protest against the Hong Kong government’s handling of a planned extradition treaty which would allow Hong Kong residents to be deported to China to face criminal charges. Organizers claim that over 1,400,000 demonstrators are present....
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced the temporary suspension of efforts by the government to pass the extradition bill today, stating that the government would "pause and think" after public controversy. Although this may mark an end to immediate tensions in Hong Kong, it remains to be seen if the government will resume pushing for the bill at a later date...
Protests continue in Hong Kong, with demonstrations continuing to take place Thursday and Friday. Splits are notably opening in the pro-Beijing camp, but it still remains to be seen as to whether the Hong Kong government and Beijing will back down, or instead decide that it is necessary to take harsh measures. A large-scale demonstration has been called for Sunday by the organizers of the demonstration last Sunday, which had over one million participants...
The next steps for efforts to resist the extradition law in Hong Kong remain unclear after tonight. Despite the fact that an Umbrella Movement-style occupation formed in the early morning hours on Harcourt Road outside of LegCo, the aggressive police response has at least temporarily cut off the possibility of the movement against the extradition bill taking the form of an occupation. Likewise, the notion of a general strike that would make all of Hong Kong society ground to a halt did not succeed, because the strike was not wide enough...
By mid-afternoon today, the occupation outside LegCo had become something of a recreation of the Umbrella Movement occupation. However, by late afternoon, riot police took to setting off tear gas advancing on demonstrators with riot shields to try and stamp out the putative occupation...
A dramatic series of confrontations with police took place outside of LegCo tonight. The confrontations ended with a significant number of demonstrators settling in for the night in areas in the vicinity of LegCo...
Hong Kong LegCo president Andrew Leung announced earlier this afternoon that voting on the proposed extradition bill will be delayed until Thursday of next week. It is possible that delaying the vote on the bill is an attempt to reduce the intensity of protests, as a smokescreen or distraction, or even as a feint for a push to rapidly pass the bill. On the other hand, it is possible that splits, or at least the appearance of splits, are appearing in the pro-Beijing camp...
Plans for protest actions against the extradition bill in Hong Kong are coalescing around the notion of a general strike tomorrow, when the bill is scheduled to undergo its second reading in the Legislative Council (LegCo) and be voted upon. Bills which clear voting after the second reading in LegCo usually also undergo a third reading the same day, passing into law afterward...