Hong Kong's Carrie Lam 'Strongly Condemns' Protesters Who Trashed Legislature

Carrie Lam says Hong Kong “seriously condemns” protesters’ “extreme violence and vandalism” and hopes “society will return to normal as soon as possible”

Hong Kong’s chief executive condemned protesters who occupied and ransacked the city’s legislative chamber on Monday in an escalation of demonstrations against the China-appointed government, prompting police to fire tear gas to clear the area.

Speaking to reporters at 4 a.m. local time (4 p.m. in New York) on Tuesday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam criticized the “use of extreme violence and vandalism by protesters who stormed into the Legislative Council building. This is something that we should seriously condemn because nothing is more important than the rule of law in Hong Kong.”

Demonstrators flooded into the Legislative Council after riot police suddenly retreated just before 9 p.m. local time on Monday. Protesters -- many wearing hard hats, face masks and black shirts -- moved into the building, pulling down portraits, spray-painting slogans and draping a Union Jack-emblazoned colonial flag across the legislative president’s desk.

After midnight, riot police fired tear gas in a bid to remove scores of protesters that camped outside the legislative chamber, along with a host of journalists. Within the hour, television images showed police removing gas masks, dismantling makeshift roadblocks and reclaiming the legislature after protesters vacated.

The defacement of the only democratically elected legislature under Beijing control came on the anniversary of the former British colony’s return to Chinese rule. After an annual flag-raising ceremony that also marked the start of her third year in office, Lam promised to win back the public’s trust by governing in a more inclusive way.

Lam’s government sparked the worst political crisis since the 1997 handover because of her decision to push legislation that would for the first time allow extraditions to China, a move that alarmed both locals and multinational companies. The clashes have embarrassed the central government in Beijing, which continues to back Lam’s administration.

At her early morning news conference, Lam denied that her government hasn’t responded to the people’s demands, pointing to a mid-June announcement that the extradition bill would be suspended. But some protesters have vowed to fight until she withdraws the bill completely and resigns.

“This is simply very unfortunate situation that we cannot find a way to make the government respond,” Fernando Cheung, vice chairman of the pro-democracy Labour Party, told reporters while protesters wrecked the chambers. He described the police’s decision to withdraw as a trap to discredit the opposition, saying “this is exactly what the government wants.”

Even as chaos unfolded, one of the largest crowds ever -- between 190,000 and 550,000 people -- marched largely without incident in the annual July 1 protest. While opposition lawmakers joined the government in condemning the attack on the legislative chamber, they blamed authorities for ignoring their demands despite several peaceful demonstrations in recent weeks.

Lam declined a request for an emergency meeting with pro-democracy legislators, according to the Civil Human Rights Front and democratic lawmakers. The chief executive asked lawmakers to help persuade protesters to leave the legislature, RTHK reported, citing Democratic Party lawmaker Andrew Wan.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

TICTOC ON SOCIAL:

Follow TicToc on Twitter

Like TicToc on Facebook

Follow TicToc on Instagram

Watch all of TicToc’s videos

Listen to TicToc’s podcast

Subscribe to our newsletter

TicToc by Bloomberg is global news for the life you lead. We are a 24/7 news network that covers breaking news, politics, technology, business and entertainment stories from around the globe, supported by a network of Bloomberg’s 2,700 journalists across 120 countries.