The head of the Hong Kong government Carrie Lam announced on Wednesday September 4th that the extradition bill will be withdrawn in mid-October.
It took more than three months of intense mobilization :
- Out of a population of 7.4 million, successively 1 million, then 2 million, then 1.7 million people took to the streets.
– Multiple clashes with the police also took place, occasioning numerous injuries and more than 1,200 arrests.
Even if the promise of withdrawal of the extradition bill were to be kept, the vast majority of the population believes that “it is too little and too late”.
Carrie Lam categorically refuses to satisfy the four other demands:
1) The withdrawal of the characterization of various mobilizations as “riots”, which can lead to long years of imprisonment for those accused of having participated in them.
2) Release without charge of those arrested.
3) An independent investigation into police abuse and abuse of power.
4) Universal suffrage for the election of the presidency of the government, and for MPs.
A spokesperson for the movement sums up the situation: Carrie Lam wants to “cure the gangrene with a plaster. Today, the government has responded to one of the five demands, so four remain.” The mobilizations therefore continue, even if demonstrations are now banned.
At the same time repression has been unleashed. Police violence is more brutal than ever, including sexual violence against arrested women. Even MPs have been arrested.
In the air transport industry, where the call of the HKCTU union centre for the general strike of August 5 was strongly supported, more than 20 employees have been sacked since June: and this most often for having simply expressed their opinion outside the workplace, or for having taken part in demonstrations in the city. Among those punished is the president of one of the Cathay Pacific airline unions.
Two affiliated unions of the Union syndicale Solidaires in air transport (SUD Air and ALTER) immediately protested and called for solidarity with their sacked Hong Kong colleagues.
Solidarity actions have taken place this summer in several countries, including in France. Others are planned soon. The Union syndicale Solidaires will participate in these, as will the international trade union network to which it belongs.
Paris, September 9, 2019
31 rue de la Grange aux belles – 75010 Paris – contact solidaires.org
Tel : + (33) 1 58 39 30 20 – Fax : + (33) 1 43 67 62 14 - www.solidaires.org