That Was Just A Pan-dems' Gathering, Say Rivals

The divide in the Legislative Council continued on Monday with the pro-establishment camp dismissing a meeting held by the opposition as a "gathering" of pan-democratic lawmakers and not a committee session as claimed.

The pro-government lawmakers said the opposition's event was not a legitimate Legco meeting because only Abraham Shek has the power to call a meeting of the bills committee looking into extradition law amendments, under guidelines issued by the House Committee on Saturday.

Martin Liao, convenor of the pro-government camp, also rejected the pan democrats' claim that the appointment of Shek had to be approved by the most experienced lawmaker who had been presiding over the committee – the Democratic Party's James To.

Liao said under the rules, the most senior member should only preside over the very first meeting of a bills committee.

Wong Kwok-kin from the Federation of Trade Unions said he regretted that the bills committee meeting scheduled for Monday had to be postponed. But he said this was a result of the pan-democrats' actions.