Tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents have taken to the streets to demand their government halt a plan that would make it easier to extradite people to the secretive judicial system in mainland China. The extradition bill would also allow the delivery of criminals to many countries that have not signed extradition treaties with Hong Kong.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) newspaper, a massive protest took place in downtown Hong Kong, involving an estimated 130,000 organizers. The protest, which was held on April 29 of this year, was the largest demonstration since the pro-democracy rallies from September 27 to December 25 2014, known as the Umbrella Revolution. The Umbrella Revolution comes from when protesters blocked themselves from being sprayed tear gas by police with umbrellas. On the street, many protesters held a ‘yellow umbrella’, a symbol of the Umbrella Revolution.
In April 2018, a Hong Kong man killed his girlfriend in Taiwan and later fled to Hong Kong. This has led to the Hong Kong government pushing for a criminal extradition bill, because the extradition treaty between Hong Kong and Taiwan failed to be signed and repatriated.
To oppose the Hong Kong government’s push for the bill, residents took to the streets to demand their government halt the plan. They said that the extradition bill could be abused in repatriating dissidents and human rights activists who criticize the Chinese government. In fact, publisher Lam Wing-kee, who was forcibly taken to China in 2015 on charges of selling Chinese-designated forbidden books, moved to Taiwan for fear that he would be extradited to mainland China after the implementation of the bill.
The protesters said they would stage a larger protest next month unless the Hong Kong government listens to the Hong Kong citizens claims. As a tradeoff, the Hong Kong government has taken a step back to exclude nine economic crimes, including tax evasion, from the application of the bill. However, it is not enough to appease the anger of Hong Kong citizens.
Dahyun Kim | Staff Writer
dkim200@masonlive.gmu.edu
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