They're asking that all criminal charges be dropped against protesters who have been arrested.Īnd among those four other remaining charges beyond the extradition bill, Carrie Lam said in the video today that she would appoint two new members to an existing police inquiry body, but that she would not honor the request for an independent body and that she definitely could not withdraw criminal charges against protesters who were arrested because that would be breaking the rule of law. They're also asking for an independent police inquiry into brutality from protests - from police against protesters. That was also the easiest demand to meet. And one of those demands certainly was withdrawal of the extradition bill. But the issue is that protesters have been calling for five demands, not one less. They may not be as violent as they were last weekend. Protests will almost certainly go forward. Do you get the impression, based on the people that you've talked to who are out in the streets, that this is going to end the protest movement once and for all, which is what China really wants?įENG: No, it won't. You were reporting on some of the most violent street protests. Reuters came out with a report earlier this week, though, with an audio recording from Lam herself, in which she seems to insinuate that she wanted to resign, but Beijing told her not to and that Beijing is the one calling the shots behind the extradition bill, not her. Do we get the sense that someone told her to do this?įENG: We have no independent confirmation that that was the case. They've been very upset about these protests. China has a tremendous amount of pull in Hong Kong.
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KING: Well, this makes me very curious - what you just said makes me curious about Carrie Lam's motive and whether or not this was an order given to her by China. In the video that you just played, Lam said that Hong Kong had become an unfamiliar place for her, as protests have gotten more violent, and she was finding a way forward to establish common dialogue.
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All of a sudden, today her press office released this video saying that they wanted to stop violence and restore rule of law and social order in Hong Kong. It is a big surprise, especially given recent reporting that Carrie Lam was actually not in control over who made the final decision on whether to withdraw the bill. KING: So this is a big turnaround? How much of a surprise is it?įENG: It is. KING: NPR's Emily Feng is following this story from Beijing. She made this announcement in a video address.ĬARRIE LAM: The government will formally withdraw the bill in order to fully allay public concerns. After months of protests in Hong Kong, the territory's chief executive, Carrie Lam, announced today that she is withdrawing the controversial extradition bill that set off the protests in the first place.