Government Calls Legco Chaos "unprecedented"

The government says it regrets the disorderly scenes in the Legislative Council on Saturday, which saw the pro-democracy and pro-establishment camp face off over who chaired a bills committee meeting looking into the government's controversial extradition law. In a statement, it described the situation as unprecedented.

"Legco has failed after so many meetings to elect a chairman for the bills committee on the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019, ever since it decided to set up a bills committee. This has even led to the above unpleasant event today which is unprecedented in Legco's history. The Government expresses deep regret over this. We are also gravely concerned that if this situation continued, it would have an adverse impact on the scrutiny of the bill in Legco."

At least four lawmakers were reported to have been injured in the scuffles. Neo-Democrat Gary Fan was taken away on a stretcher, the DAB's Ben Chan had his arm bandaged, and his colleague Elizabeth Quat said she was hit on the head and felt "a little dizzy". DAB chairwoman Starry Lee said they were considering making a report to police.

Lawmaker Alice Mak from the pro-Beijing Federation of Trade Unions, who said she was also injured, condemned what she called "violent" behaviour from the pan-democrats.

The two sides are, in effect, running parallel versions of the committee. Pan-democrats say that James To was elected chairman at a committee meeting last week, while the pro-establishment camp and the Legco secretariat say that meeting was not legitimate as To had been removed as presiding officer. They say Abraham Shek is the committee's presiding lawmaker.

To had been accused of filibustering after a bills committee chairman was not chosen after two meetings. The government wants to pass the bill before July's recess.

In the statement, the government backed the stance of the pro-establishment camp camp saying Shek had convened the meeting with the authorisation of the House Committee, chaired by the DAB's Starry Lee. It met on May 4 and issued guidelines to remove To.

The government wants to change Hong Kong's extradition laws so it can extradite fugitives to jurisdictions, with which it has no extradition agreement, on a case by case basis. These include the mainland, Taiwan and Macau.

Critics say this could lead to activists being sent to the mainland for trial on vague charges. Those in favour say there will be sufficient safeguards in place. They also point to the case of a Hong Kong man, who is wanted for murder in Taiwan, and currently can't be extradited.

The Legco secretariat says the bills committee will now meet on Tuesday at 8.30 am. The pan-democrats say they will start a meeting at 8.15 am.