Protesters Return to Hong Kong’s Streets, Rejecting Leader’s Apology 6park.com
Hundreds of thousands of marchers turned out on Sunday in Hong Kong. At one point, they waved their phone lights to honor a man who died in a fall during the protests.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times 6park.com
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Hundreds of thousands of marchers turned out on Sunday in Hong Kong. At one point, they waved their phone lights to honor a man who died in a fall during the protests.CreditCreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times 6park.com
By Daniel Victor and Keith Bradsher 6park.com
June 16, 2019 6park.com


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HONG KONG — Protesters poured into the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday with renewed determination and a lengthening list of demands, rejecting the government’s retreat on a contentious extradition bill and extending the political crisis gripping the semiautonomous territory.
Hong Kong’s embattled leader, Carrie Lam, shelved the bill on Saturday and followed that up with a rare apology the next day, actions that pro-democracy activists dismissed as too little, too late.
And the sheer size of the demonstration — organizers gave an unverified estimate of close to two million of the territory’s seven million people — made clear the public remained unsatisfied.
Many of the protesters said they were disappointed with Mrs. Lam’s statement, saying it seemed insincere. 6park.com
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“She only did it under pressure,” said Leo Cheng, a 19-year-old student.
The marchers’ resolve is sending tremors to Beijing, where President Xi Jinping’s carefully nurtured image of strength and competence is being put to the test.
“They want to send a message to Beijing,” said Willy Lam, an adjunct professor at the Center for China Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “If Beijing wants to do something that really infringes upon Hong Kong’s basic value, Hong Kong people will turn out in force, again and again, to pour out their discontent.” 6park.com
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Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, spoke during a news conference on Saturday, when she announced the shelving of an unpopular proposal to allow extradition of criminal suspects to China.CreditHector Retamal/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images 6park.com
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Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, spoke during a news conference on Saturday, when she announced the shelving of an unpopular proposal to allow extradition of criminal suspects to China.CreditHector Retamal/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images 6park.com
The marchers filled broad avenues and ran the length of downtown Hong Kong, parents with their children, groups of students and numerous retirees. Reflecting their changing mood, most dressed in black, a stark change from the white most wore the previous week.
They chanted and carried signs listing their demands: the complete withdrawal of the bill, not just an indefinite suspension; an impartial investigation into the police use of force during Wednesday’s clashes with protesters; and the rescinding the official description of that protest as an illegal riot, which could expose anyone arrested during the violent demonstration to long jail terms. 6park.com
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In contrast to Wednesday, police officers stood by on Sunday in a crowd-control role, with no altercations or arrests reported.
There were no immediate plans for another march. But labor unions, which tend to be weak in Hong Kong, have called for different sectors of society to take turns holding strikes of an hour or two on Monday, including a general strike by many businesses early Monday afternoon.
Perhaps most broadly, the demonstrators are increasingly demanding the departure of Mrs. Lam, the chief executive of Hong Kong. The many calls for her resignation — and increasingly, for those of her ministers for justice and security — seemed to put in question her continued viability as the territory’s leader.
“Some heads need to roll,” said Emily Lau, the former chairwoman of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party and still a leading voice in the territory’s democracy movement. 6park.com
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1:48Hundreds of Thousands March Through Hong Kong 6park.com
The suspension of a bill that would allow extradition to China was not enough to deter people from demonstrating again this Sunday.CreditCreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times 6park.com
It is far from clear whether that will happen. China’s leaders want to avoid starting the public selection process for a successor, as Mrs. Lam does not have an obvious political heir.
A commentary on Sunday in the People’s Daily, a news outlet run by the Communist Party, backed the Hong Kong government. But, in a departure from previous commentaries in the state news media, it conspicuously failed to mention Mrs. Lam. 6park.com