Carrie Lam Govt To Blame For All Woes: Protesters

In a first ever public interaction, a group of Hong Kong protesters met the media on Tuesday morning and blamed the Carrie Lam administration for the city's ongoing troubles, saying the government's “disgraceful behaviour” should be condemned.

Dressed in the protesters' trademark black shirts and wearing masks and helmets, the group said the government and the police should stop acting like they're the enemy of the people.

The group claimed they are not representing anyone but are just a platform countering what they called “malicious distortion” by the government over the anti-extradition bill protests.

Asked about the CE's statement on Monday that the protests are challenging the nation's sovereignty, the group said their anger comes from being oppressed by the local authorities for a long time.

A spokesman for the so called Civil Press Conference group, who identified himself as Jerry Chan, called on the government to respond promptly to the five major demands the protesters are calling for, including the complete withdrawal of the extradition bill, as well as the setting up of an independent probe into the police action during the protests, especially the Yuen Long incident on July 21.

The group also called on the police to stop "abusing their powers" and using violence against protesters, saying their excessive use of force has hurt a lot of innocent civilians.

They also hit back at Financial Secretary Paul Chan’s argument that the protests have slowed down the city’s economy.

“There’s a lack of direct connection between the slowing down of the economy in the second quarter and the protests. The escalation of the protests did not occur until June the 9th. While only a minority of shops in the affected areas were closed early to avoid the protests, the impact of such was negligible in comparison to the overall size of the Hong Kong economy”, the spokesman said.