Thread by @AFP

Huge protest crowds thronged Hong Kong on Sunday as anger swells over plans to allow extradition to China, a proposal that has sparked the biggest public backlash against the city's pro-Beijing leadership in years
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The city's pro-Beijing leaders are pushing a bill through the legislature that would allow extraditions to any jurisdiction with which it does not already have a treaty -- including mainland China for the first time
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Dense crowds chanting "Scrap the evil law!" and "Oppose China extradition!" stretched for miles
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The proposed law has sparked an opposition that unites a wide demographic, setting off the largest demonstrations since 2014 when pro-democracy protests brought parts of the city to a standstill for two months
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Hong Kong's leaders, who are not popularly elected, say the law is needed to plug loopholes and stop the city being a bolthole for mainland fugitives
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But critics fear the law would entangle people in China's opaque and politicised court system and say the government is using the Taiwan case as a Trojan Horse
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The proposed law has been fast-tracked through the city's government-dominated legislature and on Wednesday it will receive its second reading, with plans to have the law on the statute book by late July
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The backlash creates a headache for the city's appointed leader Carrie Lam who has staked her political reputation on the bill passing
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Many protesters on Sunday said they no longer trust the Hong Kong government to stick to promises that critics would never be sent to the mainland
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Trust in the city's leadership to withstand political pressure from Beijing has fallen further after the failure of the 2014 protests to win any concessions, the imprisonment of protest leaders and the banning of some lawmakers from taking office
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#BREAKING A million marched in Hong Kong extradition protest: organisers

#UPDATE "There are 1,030,000 people at today's march," an organiser told crowds gathered outside the city's legislature
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#BREAKING Violence breaks out as police try to clear Hong Kong protesters: AFP

#UPDATE A huge peaceful protest in Hong Kong against controversial plans to allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland descended into violence early Monday as police clashed with small pockets of demonstrators outside the city's parliament u.afp.com/Jdyp

They came from all walks of life, a sea of white-clad Hong Kongers, braving hours in the tropical heat and galvanised by fear that their unique city is being subsumed by China u.afp.com/JdFZ

VIDEO: Hundreds of thousands of protesters (organisers estimated 1 million) thronged Hong Kong streets in the blazing summer heat as anger swelled over government plans to allow extradition to mainland China

Demonstrators gather in front of the Chinese Consulate in Vancouver, Canada, to protest against a controversial law proposed by Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing government to allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland

One country - two systems.

A man quietly protests in front of riot police in Hong Kong as crowds massed against plans to allow extraditions to mainland China

📷 Philip Fong

Anger spills over.

Isolated clashes between protesters and police in Hong Kong occurred after hundreds of thousands of people (some estimate 1 million) took part in a peaceful rally against government plans to allow extraditions to mainland China

📷 Philip Fong & Isaac Lawrence

#BREAKING Hong Kong government will not withdraw extradition bill: leader

#UPDATE Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leader says controversial plan to allow extraditions to mainland China will not be scrapped despite huge protests
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VIDEO: Responding to massive protests in Hong Kong against allowing extraditions to mainland China, the city's pro-Beijing leader announces that she will not scrap the controversial bill because it will "help to uphold justice"

VIDEO: Police fight with protesters in Hong Kong, using batons and pepper spray as they try to clear demonstrators from the city's parliament after massive crowds marched against plans to allow extraditions to mainland China

#BREAKING Hong Kong extradition law opponents call fresh protests for Wednesday