{"id":3539,"date":"2019-04-29T15:12:03","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T15:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/?p=3539"},"modified":"2019-04-29T15:12:03","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T15:12:03","slug":"hong-kong-thousands-protest-against-china-extradition-law-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/2019\/04\/29\/hong-kong-thousands-protest-against-china-extradition-law-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong: Thousands protest against China extradition law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thousands of people protested in Hong Kong on Sunday over a proposed law change that would allow suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials say they need to amend the law before July so that they can extradite a murder suspect to Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-asia-china-29407067\">Demonstrators &#8211; some marching with umbrellas &#8211; fear Beijing is trying to exert more power<\/a>&nbsp;over the territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Police estimate that about 22,000 people took part, while organisers say this figure was closer to 130,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Either way, these estimates would make it the largest demonstration since pro-democracy rallies in 2014 known as the Umbrella Movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reuters news agency reported that people were chanting &#8220;step down, Carrie Lam&#8221;. Ms Lam is the pro-Beijing leader of Hong Kong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/10650\/production\/_106625176_3223a581-52d0-4270-b256-b9993fefb8e9.jpg\" alt=\"Hong Kong protests\" \/><figcaption>Image captionProtesters accused Carrie Lam of having &#8216;betrayed&#8217; Hong Kong<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hong Kong has a separate legal system to mainland China, thanks to &#8220;one country, two systems&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The former British colony was handed back to China in 1997 on condition it would retain &#8220;a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defence affairs&#8221; for 50 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But earlier this year Ms Lam&#8217;s government announced that it would overhaul the city&#8217;s extradition laws so that, for the first time, suspects could be extradited to Taiwan, Macau or mainland China on a case-by-case basis.ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-china-47810723\">Fears over Hong Kong-China extradition plans<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-asia-china-48033156\">Hong Kong &#8216;Umbrella&#8217; protesters jailed<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-asia-china-38623439\">Young and unhappy in Hong Kong<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials said that no-one at risk of being sentenced to death, being tortured, or facing a political charge would be sent to the mainland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But protesters are unconvinced, with some accusing Ms Lam of having &#8220;betrayed&#8221; Hong Kong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They also point to Beijing&#8217;s poor human rights record and opaque legal system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, also told the government-funded broadcaster RTHK the proposal was &#8220;an assault on Hong Kong&#8217;s values, stability and security&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thousands of people protested in Hong Kong on Sunday over a proposed law change that would allow suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial. Officials say they need to amend the law before July so that they can extradite a murder suspect to Taiwan. Demonstrators &#8211; some marching with umbrellas &#8211; fear Beijing is trying to exert more&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/2019\/04\/29\/hong-kong-thousands-protest-against-china-extradition-law-2\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3539"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3540,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3539\/revisions\/3540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}