Hot on the heels of the city’s largest demonstration in recent memory, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp is calling on residents to leave work and rally once again outside the city’s legislature on Wednesday to protest a controversial bill that could see people extradited to mainland China for trial.
The announcement was made at a press briefing this afternoon at the Legislative Council, one day after a record number of Hongkongers took to the streets to protest the bill. Organizers say that more than one million people turned up to the march, but even that staggering figure did nothing to dampen the pro-Beijing government’s resolve to pass the deeply unpopular legislation.
Support for a one-day citywide strike, meanwhile, appears to already be gathering steam, with dozens of businesses saying they would shut for the day to take part.
Speaking at the Legislative Council today, Jimmy Sham of the Civil Human Rights Front, which organized Sunday’s protest, said the follow-up rally will begin at 10am on Wednesday, June 12, the day of the second reading of the much-maligned amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance at the Legco.
Sham said that the crowd may not be able to use the Legislative Council’s demonstration area, and may be forced onto Tim Mei Avenue outside the building.
Sham was accompanied by lawmakers from the pro-democracy camp, who held the press conference hours after Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced that the bill would proceed through the legislature as planned.
Claudia Mo, the leader of the Legco’s pro-democracy camp, said: “Carrie Lam is certainly incredible; any leader in their right mind facing a protest involving more than one million people would naturally have a rethink over the issue in hand.”
She added that Lam should at least consider shelving the bill if she is reluctant to scrap it altogether to “give Hong Kong some breathing space for the time being.”
“This morning, she would have the cheek to say ‘I’m listening still to different opinions, and my officials will explain further,'” Mo continued. “There’s nothing further to explain, and we don’t need anymore verbal or even written safeguards in the law now. It’s so obvious, we want this bill to be scrapped altogether.”
Mo also accused Lam of “hiding behind some invisible government spokesperson,” adding that her announcement last night that the bill’s second reading would go ahead on Wednesday was what triggered the late-night clashes between protesters and police.
However, the group said it would not be trying to rush the entrance to the legislature, as some protesters have done in the past, and that the plan would be to merely occupy the area around the building. Sham, of the Civil Human Rights Front, also ruled out direct action, citing the number of children he saw at Sunday’s rally, and adding that it was important the demonstration reamin peaceful.
Asked whether people might not attend Wednesday’s rally out of fear of losing their jobs, Mo added: “We’re not specifically making a call on anyone to just ignore his or her job. What we’re saying is that we wish Hong Kong people would do whatever they think appropriate, including calling in unavailable for [their] job on Wednesday. Free will, free mind after all, right?”
According to RTHK, more than 50 companies — including restaurants, retail outlets, and car hire companies — have announced that they will be going on strike on Wednesday.
Rent-a-van app Call4Van said it would be taking part in the strike, as did the satirical publication 100Most, which noted in a winking Facebook post that its employees had come down with the flu and wouldn’t be working on Wednesday. Even a Chinese traditional medicine clinic in Kowloon announced that it would be participating.
Prominent lawyer Michael Vidler also announced that members of his firm would be free to participate on Wednesday as they saw fit, though the office would remain open and be staffed by Vidler himself, who turned out to protest the extradition bill at Sunday’s demonstration.
Vidler told Coconuts HK on Sunday that he joined the march to voice his “opposition to an ill-conceived and ill-considered piece of legislation that threatens to have an incredibly detrimental impact on Hong Kong, on our reputation as a place where the rule of law is upheld.”
Also at today’s press conference was Labour Party Vice Chairman Fernando Cheung, who said that he and fellow lawmaker Shiu Ka-chun had — in addition to urging social workers to join the rally — called for a general strike in the social welfare sector.
However, he added, they have not decided when it will take place, and reiterated that they didn’t want to adversely affect those who rely on social welfare services.
