The Legislative Council will not move to open the debate on a controversial bill allowing extradition to mainland China today, a day after Admiralty descended into chaos as police used tear gas, rubber bullets, and batons to disperse tens of thousands of Hongkongers who had turned out to protest the law.
In a brief statement, the government announced that the Central Government Offices — the complex that contains the LegCo, the chief executive’s offices — and other administrative departments, would be closed today and tomorrow.
“Due to security reason, the Central Government Offices (CGO) will be temporarily closed today and tomorrow (June 13 and 14),” the statement reads. “Staff working in the CGO should not go to the workplace and should work in accordance with the contingency plans of their respective bureaux or departments.”
Lawmakers had originally been scheduled to hear the extradition bill’s second reading yesterday, but that meeting was cancelled over the protests, which saw demonstrators occupy Harcourt Road, Tamar Park, and parts of Tim Mei and Tim Wa avenues, effectively surrounding the LegCo. Though the body announced late in the morning that it would be postponing the second reading, demonstrators didn’t begin to disperse until the evening, after police fired round after round of tear gas into crowds, at times moving in to beat protesters, in a response that was widely condemned as excessive.
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LegCo President Andrew Leung, in a circular sent to lawmakers, also said that yesterday’s meeting would not be rescheduled for today, RTHK reports.
The new schedule for the second reading would be disclosed “once it is determined by the president,” the circular added.
Pro-democracy lawmakers had urged Cheung not to reschedule the meeting, with the camp’s convenor, Claudia Mo, calling on Leung to “just scrap any meeting, all the meetings, that would involve what we call the evil law.”
Fellow pro-dem lawmaker James To had said reopening the debate on the bill would pose a security risk.
The scene around Admiralty this morning was subdued, with access to the CGO restricted by police.
Train service to the Admiralty station was also suspended this morning, and Pacific Place Mall, which had been used by many protesters taking a break from the streets, was closed.
Government statements, meanwhile, painted yesterday’s demonstration as a “riot” that needed to be quelled, even as rights defenders and foreign diplomats condemned the police response and called for the government to reconsider the bill.
In a statement last night, Chief Executive Carrie Lam accused protesters of “carr[ying] out dangerous and even life-threatening acts… thereby posing serious threats to the safety of the general public, the young people who intended to express their views peacefully, the reporters, police officers and civil servants.”
However, at ground level, the gravest threat to safety appeared to come from police themselves, and while protesters were at times unruly, Coconuts HK reporters at the scene didn’t witness any outright violence on their part.
Amnesty International said police “took advantage of the violent acts of a small minority as a pretext to use excessive force against the vast majority of peaceful protesters.”
UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt weighed in last night to urge the government to heed protesters’ concerns.
“Time for the Hong Kong Government to pause and reflect on extradition proposals,” he said in a tweet. “Rights, freedoms and high degree of autonomy, guaranteed by the legally binding Sino-British Joint Declaration, are critical to Hong Kong’s success.”
In a potentially telling development, meanwhile, the CEO of Telegram, a messaging app used by demonstrators, said on Twitter that the platform experienced massive “state actor-sized” DDoS attacks originating from China, causing service disruptions.
Braving steady rain, a handful of demonstrators had returned to the scene today, but were largely quiet.
As was the case with the LegCo’s announcement of a postponement yesterday, few held out hope that bill was done for, and the mood was largely dejected.
As one person collecting supplies left at the scene by protesters put it, the bill’s opponents “don’t really have hope to change it, but we still have to do something.”
Reporting by Vicky Wong.
