Hong Kong’s Lam scraps bill that sparked months of unrest

Bloomberg

Hong Kong’s embattled leader, Carrie Lam, formally withdrew legislation to allow extraditions to China, a political retreat that may help ease — but not end — months of unrest in the Asian
financial hub.
Lam announced the move in a televised address on Wednesday, after a meeting with pro-establishment politicians including local legislators and the city’s representatives to national legislative bodies.
She also pledged an independent study of the government’s performance and reaffirmed her commitment to reviewing the police actions — while saying she couldn’t accept other protester demands such as dropping rioting charges against demonstrators.
“Incidents over these past two months have shocked and saddened Hong Kong people,” Lam said, seated at a desk, her hands folded. “We are all very anxious about Hong Kong, our home. We all hope to find a way out of the current impasse and unsettling times.”
Hong Kong stocks jumped, led by property developers, after news reports that she would withdraw bill. The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 3.9 percent — the biggest gain since November — before her speech, although futures slipped after she made clear that she wouldn’t meet some protester demands.
“Carrie Lam’s so-called concessions have come too little too late, the damage is done, the scars and wounds are still bleeding in Hong Kong,” Claudia Mo, a pro-democracy lawmaker, who has been a prominent participant in some of the biggest marches, told a briefing after the announcement. “If she thinks she can use some garden hose to put out some hill fire, that’s not possible.”
The online forum LIHKG — a popular sounding board and organising platform for protesters — also indicated disappointment with Lam’s action. A post titled “Two out of five demands met. Do we accept?” garnered 415 thumb-downs in less than 15 minutes.
Lam’s move follows a weekend of demonstrations that saw some of the fiercest clashes between protesters and riot police. Activists have lobbed petrol bombs and set bonfires in the streets, while police officers fired tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray, making more than 1,100 arrests since June.
The turmoil that followed Lam’s attempt to introduce the ill-fated bill — including mass marches that drew more than 1 million people and protests that shut the city’s busy airport — have turned into the biggest crisis for Beijing’s rule over the former British colony since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Aggressive police tactics, threats by Beijing to deploy troops and sweeping arrests of pro-democracy figures have raised fears about Hong Kong’s autonomy and drawn international condemnation.