Anti-extradition Protesters Return To Legco

Hundreds of people are protesting outside the Legislative Council. They gathered on Friday evening to call for international support for Hong Kong at the G20 summit at Osaka in Japan.

Organisers hope world leaders will pressure President Xi Jinping over the controversial extradition bill and universal suffrage for Hong Kong.

It follows an international campaign by the protesters, who this week placed full page ads in international newspapers, such as the Financial Times, the Guardian, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung and the New York Times, outlining their case.

The government has suspended the extradition bill, which critics fear could see people sent to the mainland for trial. But the protesters want it withdrawn completely, even though the government says it will lapse when this Legislative Council term ends in the middle of next year.

The new protest is the latest in a series of demonstrations that has hampered the work of the government.

On Thursday, protesters gathered outside the offices of the Department of Justice on Lower Albert Road. Police headquarters in Wan Chai has been surrounded twice this month, with graffiti scrawled on the walls and eggs thrown at the building on Arsenal Street. Central Government Offices at Tamar have been closed five times in June due to protesters blocking the streets and work at the Immigration Tower and Inland Revenue Tower in Wan Chai has also been disrupted.

The government now fears the unrest may spread to the flag-raising ceremony at Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai on July 1, which marks SAR Establishment Day. On Thursday, it told student and uniformed groups not to attend. On Friday, the Chief Secretary, Matthew Cheung, said the event would go ahead as planned despite online calls to disrupt it.

An attempt by protesters to break into the Legislative Council on June 12 led to police firing tear gas, pepper spray and bean bag guns at the crowd. The government has described the clash as a riot, saying bricks and metal bars were used against police officers. Protesters, though, have accused the police of brutality.

Protesters are also demanding an inquiry into the action of the police on June 12, the retraction of the description of that protest as a riot, and for charges against those arrested on June 12 to be dropped.