Hong Kong: Thousands of people in Hong Kong have surrounded police headquarters, calling for an extradition bill to be scrapped. Police have asked the protesters to withdraw peacefully, saying their presence would "seriously affect" emergency services. Millions of people have marched against the bill in recent weeks, with violent clashes breaking out with police. The bill, which allows extradition to mainland China, has already been suspended. Critics say it would erode the judicial independence of Hong Kong. Hong Kong has been part of China since 1997 under the "one country, two systems" principle, which allows it freedoms not seen in mainland China.
How radical youth forced the government's hand
The protest comes a day after the government ignored a deadline set by a group of students from various universities in Hong Kong, who called for the bill to be completely scrapped. Early on Friday people gathered outside the Legislative Council Complex, or government headquarters, but then moved to surround police headquarters. Among the protesters was student activist Joshua Wong, who became the face of pro-democracy protests in 2014. He was freed earlier this week after being jailed in May on contempt charges related to the 2014 demonstrations.
In a tweet, Wong called for police to drop charges against people arrested in the recent protests. Some protesters also moved to Hong Kong's Revenue Tower. The Labour Department said several services based in the building would be suspended. As demonstrators remained camped outside government buildings, some sprayed water into the crowd in an attempt to keep cool while others sang songs.
Palpable anger
It is telling that many protesters have now dropped Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam's resignation from their list of demands - focusing instead on a complete withdrawal of the bill, revoking the term "riot" to describe the 12 June protests, releasing all detained activists, and investigating police violence. One 20-year-old protester, June, had snuck out to the protests despite her parents disapproval. She said she didn't think it was realistic to expect Carrie Lam to resign, but "I really hope they release injured protesters and investigate their actions". So far, there haven't been any violent clashes - some protesters threw eggs, but nothing harder, at uniformed police officers, while there were no riot police at the scene, perhaps in an attempt to defuse tensions. But the anger at the police was palpable as people chanted "evil police" and "release them", and attempted to block some entrances with steel barriers.
What is the extradition bill?
The mass protests are against amendments to the extradition law that would allow suspects accused of criminal wrongdoing to be extradited to mainland China. This is significant because though Hong Kong is part of China, it keeps its own judicial independence, legislature and economic system. People fear that if the extradition bill passes, it would erode this judicial independence and bring Hong Kong more decisively under China's control.
Critics of the bill, including lawyers and rights groups, also say it leaves people in Hong Kong
exposed to China's justice system, which is marred by allegations of torture, forced confessions and arbitrary detentions.
