Hong Kong was turned back over to China in 1997, but it maintained partial independence from the ruling Chinese Communist Party. HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty Imagesįor those who haven't studied this historically important, dynamic city, Hong Kong was a former British colony, which had a democratic system (and for a short time, a limited movement toward suffrage had begun). Protesters attend the 'Hong Kong Mothers Anti-Extradition Rally', in protest against actions of the city's police force in recent demonstrations against a proposed extradition bill, in Hong Kong on June 14, 2019. In fact, The New York Times reported that Hong Kong's chief executive, Carrie Lam, who is an ally of the Chinese Communist Party, "compared the protesters to spoiled children and vowed to keep fighting for the extradition law." Hong Kong's legislature has postponed a discussion of the proposed law, but its leaders have shown no sign that they would scrap the extradition plan altogether. They have beaten countless unarmed civilians with clubs and arrested demonstrators. In response to the current protests, Hong Kong police fired pepper spray, rubber bullets, and tear gas into the crowds. The chief executive of Hong Kong is nominated by a roughly 1,200-member election committee and appointed by a Beijing-controlled state council.) The protest has reportedly even grown larger than the 2014 umbrella protests - in which hundreds of thousands in Hong Kong petitioned to be able to elect their own leadership.
But many others (myself included) see the law as a way for the Chinese Communist Party to further limit Hong Kong's already shrinking autonomy - and silence anti-communist voices in the democratic city.
Proponents of the law claim it would prevent serious criminals hiding in Hong Kong from evading justice. Over the last several days, more than a million Hong Kong residents have flooded the streets and demonstrated against a proposed law that would let the semi-independent government there turn residents accused of crimes in mainland China over to communist authorities in Beijing.
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