The Atlantic

Hong Kong’s Protesters Earn a Victory. They Will Need More.

Officials in Hong Kong said they would suspend controversial proposed legislation. There will be other efforts to erode the city’s freedoms.
Source: Athit Perawongmetha / Reuters

HONG KONG—Call it a victory for Hong Kong’s protesters. But the battle is far from over.

Hours after reportedly having met with a senior Chinese official, a stern-faced Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s Beijing-friendly chief executive, announced that her government would temporarily suspend plans to push through a law that would allow suspected criminals to be extradited to mainland China.

Her speech capped a remarkable week here. Last weekend, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to protest the bill, one of the biggest demonstrations the city has ever seen. Indeed, the broad unpopularity of the proposed extradition law is difficult to overstate: It has united students, lawyers, pro-democracy legislators, corporate executives,

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