Hong Kong youth official praises young protesters’ victory in extradition bill crisis in bid to pacify angry students
- Lau Ming-wai calls on local leaders, including educators and religious figures, to talk to young people and help prevent the crisis from escalating
- Even so, student leaders vow to besiege government headquarters if demands are not met on Thursday
Lau Ming-wai, the deputy chairman of the Youth Development Commission, said on Wednesday he wanted young protesters to know they had already succeeded in changing the government’s course on the unpopular bill, which critics feared would lead to unfair trials in mainland China.
But Lau, a former chairman of the now-defunct Commission on Youth, and whose father launched a short-lived legal challenge to the bill, also said he hoped the city’s youth would not escalate the current situation.
“[Young protesters] have succeeded: the government can no longer legislate the bill, if you look at it pragmatically,” Lau told the Post.
“My worry is that the violent clashes could return – because anyone could issue a demand in a protest that has no leader – and there could be miscalculations.”
