Opinion | Hong Kong extradition protesters made five demands of Carrie Lam. Believe it or not, they have been heard

At the height of Occupy Central, we all thought Hong Kong could not be more divisive or politically charged than at that time. How wrong we were. Professor Albert Chen Hung-yee described the wrath of the people opposing the proposed amendment bill of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance as a “perfect storm” (courtesy of a Hollywood movie); but there is nothing perfect about it.

According to a poll carried out by a respectable newspaper in Hong Kong, 90 per cent of those marching on a Sunday in protest thought that the amendment bill was laying the legal groundwork to enable the SAR government to send Hong Kong people across the border to be tried for criticising Beijing!

Anyway, protests led to marches; marches led to violent clashes with the police, which in turn led to police describing those resorting to violence as “rioting”. Those opposing the bill did not accept any responsibility for the violent clashes but instead, made no fewer than five demands: one, the bill must be withdrawn; two, the chief executive must resign; three, the government must retract its characterisation of the violent clashes as “riots”; four, there must be a full independent inquiry into the actions of the police and; five, everyone arrested in respect of the clashes must be unconditionally freed.

The government suspended the legislative process of the bill and the chief executive publicly apologised. Those opposing the bill did not think that was enough. They said there was “no response” to any of the five demands and so the fight must go on and the rift within the community must continue. Putting aside all arguments as to who is right and who is wrong, one might ask, is that fair?

First, let us not be pedantic about it. The bill is dead. No matter how one describes its current state of health, call it “shelved”, “suspended”, “withdrawn” or what you will, the fact of the matter is that the chief executive has openly acknowledged that the bill has come to a timely end and is not to be resurrected.