Carrie Lam Rules Out General Amnesty For Protesters

Chief Executive Carrie Lam has ruled out offering a general amnesty to people arrested at protests over the past five months, but did not address reports that the administration had considered pardoning protesters after conviction.

Speaking in Shanghai after a meeting with President Xi Jinping, Lam said withdrawing charges before the judicial procedures had been completed would go against the rule of law.

An amnesty is one of five demands put forward by the protest movement that has emerged from the campaign against a now-scrapped proposal to change the extradition laws.

She was speaking after sources told RTHK that the government had looked into the feasibility of granting pardons to those convicted over the protests. It's understood the proposal is to take decisions after vetting cases individually, rather than a blanket amnesty.

Lam also said the Xi had offered his full support for the Hong Kong government's attempts to quell the protests.

Xi "expressed care and concern about Hong Kong, especially given the social disturbances that we have seen in the last five months, and he expressed support for the various actions taken by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government," Lam said.

"And we will continue to do so in strict accordance with the principle of “one country, two systems”, upholding the rule of law and trying to put an end to the violence that we have seen in the last few months."

Lam's comments come after speculation that Beijing would move to replace her as chief executive once calm returns in Hong Kong.