More than 150,000 protesters took to the streets of Hong Kong Sunday to oppose a controversial extradition bill that would enable China to extradite fugitives from the city. Organizers said they believed the number will exceed 500,000.
The government says the bill is designed to plug loopholes in current law, by allowing Hong Kong to decide on a case-by-case basis whether or not to send fugitives to territories where it doesn’t have formal extradition deals– such as Taiwan, Macau and mainland China. Lawmakers have said the guarantee of a fair trial will not be written into the bill.
On Sunday afternoon, protesters gathered in central Hong Kong, waving placards and wearing white — the designated color of the rally. « Hong Kong, never give up! » some chanted.
Other protesters were heard chanting »step down, » « shelve the evil law, » « anti extradition to China, » and called for Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, to step down.
A Hong Kong Police Force spokeswoman told CNN at least 153,000 protesters took to the streets on Sunday while organizers said they believe the number will exceed 500,000 people. At least seven people were arrested, the police posted to Twitter.
At around 7:30 p.m. HK time (7:30 a.m. ET), five to six men with masks planned to occupy a main road in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Police said on Twitter.
Police said they used pepper spray on the protesters before they escaped the area. Officers urged protesters to disperse.
Thousands also gathered to protest against the extradition bill in cities across Australia Sunday. Similar marches are planned in other cities around the world, Hong Kong political group Demosisto said in a statement.
Murder of tourist
A grisly murder case in Taiwan, where a 20-year-old Hong Kong woman was allegedly killed by her boyfriend while on holiday there, expedited the case for the bill. Currently, the suspect cannot be sent from Hong Kong to face justice in Taiwan.
However, Taipei has already said it will refuse to cooperate with the new law if it puts Taiwanese citizens at risk of being extradited to China.
