Controversial West Kowloon Bill Back Before Legco

Legislators were to begin discussing a bill on Wednesday to set up a joint immigration facility with the mainland at the West Kowloon terminus for the high-speed rail line.

Critics have described the bill as being unconstitutional as it would allow mainland officers to enforce national laws in Hong Kong.

Charles Mok, the convenor of the pro-democracy camp, said Legco president Andrew Leung had set a bad precedent in limiting the time lawmakers will be given to discuss the bill at the full council.

"There were 24 amendments that were approved by the president. We also have to talk about some of the unamended parts of the legislation ... And in fact many parts of the bill we have to discuss in order to put it into the record. So 22 hours sounds like a lot but in fact it isn't."

On Monday, Leung rejected 51 of 75 amendments raised by pan-democratic lawmakers, saying they were beyond the scope of the bill or were against Legco rules.