Hong Kong March: Vast Protest of Extradition Bill Shows Fear of Eroding Freedoms
Demonstrators
marched on Sunday against a government proposal to allow extraditions
to mainland China. Critics fear it could be used to send dissidents to
face trial in mainland courts, which are controlled by the Communist
Party.CreditCreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times
By Austin Ramzy
HONG
KONG — Hundreds of thousands of people filled the sweltering streets of
Hong Kong on Sunday in an immense protest against a government plan to
allow extraditions to mainland China that culminated after midnight in
clashes with the police.
The mass
demonstration was one of the largest in the city’s history and a
stunning display of rising fear and anger over the erosion of the civil
liberties that have long set this former British colony apart from the
rest of the country. Organizers said they counted more than one million
on the streets, or nearly one in seven Hong Kong residents.
The protest recalled the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement
five years ago, which paralyzed several of the city’s main commercial
districts but failed to persuade the government to make any concessions.
Since then, China’s ruling Communist Party has been gradually exerting
more influence over Hong Kong.
The
local authorities have rejected demands for free elections and ousted
opposition lawmakers, and critics say Beijing’s supporters are chipping
away at the independence of the territory’s courts and news media.
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The
pressure on Hong Kong reflects a broader tightening of controls across
China under President Xi Jinping, the party’s general secretary.
The
crowd of protesters, which stretched more than a mile, represented a
dramatic rebuke of the Communist leadership and a potential political
crisis for Beijing and Carrie Lam, the leader it selected to govern Hong
Kong.
“I think this law will take
away our freedoms if it is implemented,” said Peter Lam, a 16-year-old
high school student, referring to the extradition law that Ms. Lam is
trying to push through with Beijing’s support. “We will not have the
right to express ourselves. So we must stand up and express ourselves
today.”
The police estimated there
were 240,000 protesters at the peak of the demonstration, but organizers
said it was the biggest rally since more than one million residents
gathered in 1989 in support of the student-led democracy movement that
was crushed in Tiananmen Square.
The
crowd that poured through the canyons of downtown skyscrapers was so
vast that many people said they had been stuck in subway stations
waiting to join the protest, and some trains skipped stations because of
overcrowding.
The immediate focus of
the protest was a proposal to allow extradition to mainland China,
which critics are worried the authorities will use to send dissidents,
activists and others in Hong Kong, including foreign visitors, to face
trial in mainland courts, which are controlled by the party.
Despite
the large numbers, neither Beijing nor the Hong Kong government showed
any willingness to back down, and officials confirmed that a second
legislative reading of the bill would proceed as scheduled on Wednesday.
But
the turnout also exposed the depth of frustration with Beijing’s
growing encroachment on the autonomy it promised Hong Kong when it
resumed sovereignty over the territory in 1997.
In recent years, mainland Chinese police officers have been allowed to operate in a section of a new train station linking Hong Kong to China’s high-speed-rail network.
A draft law that punishes disrespect for the Chinese national anthem
has raised concerns about free speech in a place where soccer fans have
been known to boo when the song is played. And many bookstores have stopped selling publications critical of the leadership in Beijing.
For
most of the day, Sunday’s demonstration was peaceful. But tempers began
to flare in the evening near the offices of the central government as
the protesters, whose march had slowed to a standstill on some streets,
urged the police to free up more lanes.
About
1 a.m., long after most protesters had left, riot police with helmets
and shields moved in to remove a few hundred who were trying to occupy
an area in front of the legislature. Some protesters pushed metal
barriers and tossed bottles and sticks at the police, shouting,
“Communist dogs!”
The police charged,
firing pepper spray, striking people with batons and pushing the
protesters away from the government complex.
Some
demonstrators then temporarily blocked part of Gloucester Road, a major
thoroughfare that was occupied during the Umbrella Movement. The
clashes continued into early Monday morning, with both protesters and
police injured.
Despite
the size of the protests, the government was unlikely to be swayed,
said Ivan Choy, a senior lecturer in the department of government and
public administration at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
“The
major problem is that Xi Jinping holds power in China, and he is a
strongman,” Mr. Choy said, referring to China’s top leader. “He will
back up Carrie Lam’s decision to push forward.”
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“Most
people know this reality,” he continued, “but they have come out to
show the world that this legislation is not the will of the Hong Kong
public.”
The protesters had set off
from Victoria Park in the afternoon, with temperatures in the mid-80s
and scattered rains providing little relief from the humidity. Many wore
white as a symbol of justice and also mourning in Chinese culture, and
held signs saying, “No China Extradition” and “No Evil Law.”
They
directed much of their ire toward Ms. Lam, shouting slogans for her to
resign and booing as they passed a large screen displaying footage of
her at a news conference.
At public
events elsewhere in the city, Ms. Lam declined to answer questions about
the protests. But the huge public outcry puts her in a difficult spot
ahead of a vote on the bill expected later this month.
Late
Sunday, the government, responding to the protests, said the bill would
prevent Hong Kong from becoming a haven for fugitives. While pledging
to “continue to engage, listen and allay concerns,” the statement
indicated the government was pushing ahead with the bill.
The
proposed legislation would allow suspects in some criminal cases to be
turned over to jurisdictions with which Hong Kong has no formal
extradition agreement. The immediate goal is to enable the government to
send a Hong Kong man to Taiwan, where he is accused of having killed his girlfriend.
But the legislation would also allow extraditions to mainland China for the first time, with few avenues for appeal.
The
legislation excludes political crimes, and the Hong Kong government has
promised to monitor cases for human rights concerns. But many fear that
the Chinese authorities could use charges such as bribery to target
people who have angered mainland officials.
The
Communist Party had promised a “high degree of autonomy” before Britain
returned the territory to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, but many feel
that the city’s freedoms are steadily being worn down under Beijing’s
rule.
Hong Kong’s courts are far more
transparent and independent than those in the mainland. Worries about
Beijing’s reach have been made worse by the disappearance of people from
Hong Kong into mainland custody, including a Chinese billionaire and men associated with a company that published books unflattering to mainland political leaders.
Organizers said more than a million people joined the protest, though the police said the figure was 240,000 at its peak.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times
“Their
judicial system is not good,” George Wan, 31, a freelance tour guide
and writer at the protest, said of mainland China. He said the Hong Kong
government was rushing the legislation through without properly
consulting the public.
“We want to
use our footsteps to tell the government we want more time,” Mr. Wan
said as he waved a folding fan painted with characters that read “Oppose
sending to China.”
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Young
people and families were prominent in the crowd, with parents bouncing
toddlers on their hips and leading young children by the hand. One child
clutched a sign saying, “Protect my future.”
[Read: The outcry over the extradition proposal is Hong Kong’s biggest in years.]
The
protest also drew people who normally stay on the sidelines. Lee
Kin-long, 46, said he and his wife felt they needed to attend.
“This
law is dangerous, and not just for activists,” he said. “We are not
activists. Even as regular citizens, we can’t stand to see China eroding
away our freedom.”
Opposition to the legislation has been building for weeks, including a scuffle among lawmakers and an April demonstration that was the city’s biggest in five years.
Worries
about the proposal have inspired hundreds of petitions from student and
alumni associations, religious organizations and trade groups. Business associations
have expressed fear that the measure would harm Hong Kong’s reputation
as a commercial center. Press freedom groups have objected too, citing
the frequent jailing of journalists in the Chinese mainland.
Foreign governments including the United States, Britain and Canada have also expressed concerns.
In
Washington, the State Department noted that it had documented “rights
violations and abuses carried out by China’s legal system, as well as
general deterioration of respect for the rule of law.”
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“Continued
erosion of the ‘One country, two systems’ frameworks puts at risk Hong
Kong’s established special status in international affairs,” the
department said in a statement.
An
official Chinese newspaper, the China Daily, defended the extradition
measure in an editorial and accused “foreign forces are seizing the
opportunity to advance their own strategy to hurt China by trying to
create havoc in Hong Kong.”
Lawyers in Hong Kong responded to the legislation on Thursday by dressing in black for a silent protest march. A high court judge who signed a petition organized by University of Hong Kong alumni was reprimanded by the city’s chief justice.
The
last time residents of Hong Kong turned out in such large numbers over a
single issue was in 2003, when half a million marchers expressed their
opposition to proposed national security legislation prohibiting
sedition, subversion and treason against the Chinese government.
That
legislation, known as Article 23, was shelved after so many people
mobilized against it, arguing that it threatened civil liberties
enshrined in Hong Kong’s version of a constitution. Polling by the University of Hong Kong has indicated that opposition to the extradition plan is even higher.
But
pro-democracy lawmakers have said that unless the government backs
down, the measure is likely to pass in the local legislature, where
pro-Beijing lawmakers hold 43 of 70 seats. Only half the seats are
elected by popular vote.
Gillian Wong and Katherine Li contributed reporting from Hong Kong, and Edward Wong from Washington.
A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Swarm in Hong Kong Protests China’s ‘Evil Law’
