Police in Hong Kong on Wednesday used tear gas and rubber bullets against demonstrators protesting a bill that would allow citizens to be sent to mainland China for trials.
Tens of thousands of protesters descended upon the main government building ahead of the day’s legislative session, clashing with police and overturning barricades, according to multiple reports, in the largest demonstrations in Hong Kong in decades.
The protests come as a majority of politicians in the regional government’s Legislative Council appeared ready to approve a bill supported by Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, that would allow for the extraditions.
“We won’t leave till they scrap the law,” one masked protester told Reuters, adding: “Carrie Lam has underestimated us. We won’t let her get away with this.”
The news service noted that a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing told reporters that public opinion in Hong Kong was firmly against any actions that would threaten the “prosperity and stability” of the territory, which was handed over to the Chinese government from the U.K. in 1997 with guarantees that rights of its citizens would be respected.
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JUST IN: Hong Kong protests against extradition law turn violent https://t.co/W63T9zHS1G pic.twitter.com/JdDip56jc6
— The Hill (@thehill) June 12, 2019
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