China has announced a press conference on the tense situation in its Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Hong Kong and Macao Hong Kong Affairs Bureau invited to the Chinese State Council for a rare press conference in the afternoon. The office is the most important Hong Kong competent authority in China.
For several weeks, protest marches with hundreds of thousands of participants have been taking place in the financial metropolis. At the weekend it came again to riots. Riot police fired tear gas at demonstrators who had set up barricades in several places in the city following an unauthorized protest march.
The trigger for the demonstrations was a controversial bill for the delivery of alleged criminals to China. Prime Minister Carrie Lam has meanwhile declared the law to be „dead“, but she did not respond to the protestors‘ demand that the bill be formally withdrawn.
The protests are also directed at the police, who are accused of being too harsh in the demonstrations this summer. An end to the protests is not foreseeable. Demonstrations are also planned for the coming weeks.
