Freedom, Democracy Still The Goals: Chu Hoi-dick

Council Front lawmaker Chu Hoi-dick on Sunday said anti-extradition protesters should acknowledge the progress of the movement, despite the government not meeting their demands. He said the protests have killed the extradition bill, and that was no small feat.

But Chu said people have to think about ways to transform the movement into a wider fight for freedom and democracy. Speaking on RTHK's Letter to Hong Kong, he said activists have to think about those who are not yet on board.

And he said the government is far from fulfilling the movement's major demands, as there was still no withdrawal of the extradition bill, no independent investigation of police actions, no guarantee that protesters would not be criminalised as rioters, no stepping down of officials, and no promise of democracy.

Chu said the past two months had seen the eruption of people's anger against years of Beijing eroding Hong Kong's autonomy, and the extradition bill was the final straw. However, he added that the root cause is always the lack of democracy.

But he said people should be confident when facing the challenges ahead because together they had achieved so much over the past few months.