Squash Bill, Probe Police Action: Religious Heads

Local religious leaders say they have accepted Chief Executive Carrie Lam's personal, public apology – but are calling for an inquiry into violent clashes that left nearly 80 people injured last Wednesday.

In a statement, Cardinal John Tong of the Catholic Diocese and Reverend Eric So from the Christian Council, said the government should explicitly state the contentious extradition bill had been withdrawn - rather than suspended.

The statement said they would prefer the government make "an explicit, public statement that the bill has been withdrawn, to meet the strong demand of the general public".

The two religious leaders also said they want a probe into police tactics "as a lesson for the future".

They said they have accepted the personal, public apology of the Chief Executive, "with the admission of her own inadequacies".

Meanwhile a separate group, calling itself the Pastoral Care Team, echoed those requests.

But a spokesman, pastor Youngman Chan, said they couldn't accept Lam's apology.

“She’s still maintaining that ‘I’ve been working hard, but I have not done well’. And that is really disgusting,” he said.

“Why can’t she say ‘I have done wrong, I was foolish to push this, and I have heard you’? And she’s still saying that ‘look, look, look, I have done the utmost, but you guys were just offended. It’s your problem, but since you don’t like it, so I apologise,’” Chan told RTHK's Richard Pyne.