Protesters attend a rally against a controversial extradition law
proposal in Hong Kong on June 9, 2019. The city's pro-Beijing government
is pushing a bill through the legislature that would allow extraditions
to any jurisdiction with which it doesn't already have a treaty --
including mainland China. PHOTO | DALE DE LA REY | AFP
Scores of Hong Kong businesses have vowed to shut Wednesday and
protesters have planned another mass rally outside the city's Parliament
as anger builds over the government's push to allow extraditions to
China.
The financial hub was rocked
by a huge protest march over the weekend -- the largest since the city's
1997 return to China -- as vast crowds called on authorities to scrap
the Beijing-backed plan.
Many are
fearful the proposed law will tangle people in the mainland's opaque
courts and hammer Hong Kong's reputation as an international business
hub.
Organisers of the march said
more than a million people took to the streets on Sunday, but the record
crowds have failed to sway chief executive Carrie Lam who has rejected
calls to withdraw or delay the bill and warned opponents against
committing "radical acts".
On
Wednesday, lawmakers will begin the next debate on the bill in the
city's legislature, which is dominated by Beijing loyalists. A final
vote is expected on June 20.
Protest groups have vowed to stage a fresh
rally outside the building Wednesday morning -- although it was not yet
clear whether police would allow it to take place.
Organisers
have billed the gathering as a "picnic" in a park next to the building,
but cordons have been thrown up in the area while Parliament itself is
now surrounded by metal barriers and a heavy police presence.
A
separate online petition calling on protesters to gather Tuesday
evening and camp overnight outside Parliament heightened tensions, with
police stopping multiple young people for searches.
In
the early hours of Monday, officers fought running battles with small
groups of hard-line protesters who had made similar plans to spend the
night.
Ahead
of Wednesday's debate, business owners took to social media using a
hashtag that translates as "#612strike" -- the date of the proposed
action -- to announce solidarity closures.
A
large chunk are mom-and-pop style stores and small businesses that are a
key part of the city's economy, but which often eschew the city's
raucous street politics.
By Tuesday
morning, more than 100 businesses had declared plans to strike, ranging
from coffee shops and restaurants to camera stores, toy shops, nail
salons, yoga studios and even an adult entertainment store.
"Hong
Kong was built by our various generations with hard work," wrote Meet
Yoga studio on its Instagram account. "A Hong Kong without freedom --
how about we just wipe it off the map entirely and call it China?"
The
city's major student unions said they would boycott classes to attend
the rallies, while a string of other prominent unions in the transport,
social work and teaching sectors either followed suit or encouraged
members to attend.
On Tuesday, Lam warned against strikes, a protest method that is not readily embraced in the business-centric city.
"I
urge schools, parents, groups, corporations and unions to carefully
consider, if they call for these radical acts, what good would it do for
Hong Kong society and our youth?" RTHK quoted her as asking.
The
proposed law would allow extraditions to any jurisdiction with which
Hong Kong does not already have a treaty -- including mainland China.
Hong
Kong's leaders say it is needed to plug loopholes and to stop the city
being a sanctuary for fugitives, and that safeguards are in place to
ensure that political critics of Beijing will not be targeted.
Many
Hong Kongers have little faith in the government's assurances after
years of heightened fears that a resurgent Beijing is trying to quash
the city's unique freedoms and culture.
Massive
pro-democracy demonstrations in 2014 failed to win any concessions
while protest leaders have been imprisoned or banned from politics.
On
Tuesday, New Zealand's top court stopped a murder suspect from being
extradited to Shanghai in a landmark ruling that gave a scathing
assessment of China's courts.
The
Court of Appeal noted a culture of torture, forced confessions and
months-long interrogations without lawyers in China's judicial system
while defence counsels were often persecuted.
Opposition
to extradition unites a wide cross-section of Hong Kong, including
lawyers and legal bodies, business figures and chambers of commerce,
journalists, activists and religious leaders.
The
pastor of a usually pro-government mega-church issued a statement
saying he could not support the bill while the Catholic diocese urged
Lam -- a devout Catholic -- to delay the bill.
Western
governments have also voiced alarm. The US this week warned the bill
would put people at risk of "China's capricious judicial system".
China
fired back Tuesday, with a foreign ministry official calling the
comments "irresponsible and erroneous", adding that Beijing "resolutely
opposes interference in Hong Kong affairs".
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