Huge crowds flood Hong Kong streets over extradition bill
Organisers said close to two million people marched against a proposed law allowing extraditions to mainland China, in one of the largest protests in the city's history.
Vast crowds filled the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday in a protest that organisers estimated at close to two million people, a staggering turnout in a city of about seven million and a dramatic escalation of opposition to a proposed extradition law.
The bill would have allowed suspects to be sent to mainland China to face trial, something critics feared would erode the legal firewall that separated Hong Kong's independent courts from the Communist Party-controlled system across the border. For many residents, it felt like a direct threat to the freedoms promised when Britain handed the territory back to China in 1997.
The march came a day after the city's leader, Carrie Lam, announced she would suspend the bill in the face of mounting pressure. But protesters, unsatisfied by a suspension rather than a full withdrawal, pressed on and added new demands, including an independent inquiry into police conduct at earlier demonstrations.
The sea of people, many dressed in black, moved slowly through the heart of the city for hours. The scale and discipline of the turnout underscored how deeply the proposal had touched a nerve.
The protests would continue through the summer and beyond, growing into a sustained movement that reshaped Hong Kong's politics and drew the attention of the world. Sunday's march marked the moment the city's discontent became impossible to ignore.