'CE's Latest Offer Will Be Acceptable To People'

The pro-Beijing party, DAB, said on Monday it welcomed new offers made by the Chief Executive on the controversial extradition law changes, saying these would help Hong Kong people accept the bill.

Referring to Sunday's massive protest rally, the party's chairwoman Starry Lee said she respects views supporting and opposing the bill, and hopes the government can communicate more with the public.

"A great number of people have expressed their concern through yesterday's demonstration. I am also aware of the great number of people who showed their support for the bill," she said.

Lee said her party is glad that the Carrie Lam administration has taken up their suggestions. She said the CE's offer on Monday to make rights safeguards binding as well as to make regular reports to the legislature, can help people accept the bill.

The lawmaker said such reports to Legco can help the public understand how the bill is implemented. She said these reports can be made to the council's security panel every six months or annually.

Her fellow lawmaker Gary Chan, meanwhile, condemned the violence outside Legco on Sunday night.

He also said there were some online posts by opponents of the bill which showed pictures of home-made spears, while security guards found things such as screwdriver and hammer with some protesters.

He urged the police to catch the people behind such calls for violence as soon as possible.

The pro-government Federation of Trade Unions suggested the organiser of Sunday’s march has exaggerated the turnout “by five times”, noting police put the figure at 240,000 while organisers said more than a million took part.

The head of the federation, Stanley Ng, who’s also a local deputy to the National People’s Congress, said the opposition and external forces have turned what he called a “technical amendment” to the law into a political issue.