Kill bill: Hong Kong government minister hits out at pan-democrats over copyright bill filibuster
Commerce Secretary Greg So also came under fire for not ending the debate amid calls for it to be adjourned one day early
After a decade of consultation, drafting and debate, the contentious copyright bill will be shelved on Friday as the commerce minister on Thursday night called all pan-democrats “killers” of the draft legislation.
Tabling a motion of adjournment less than an hour before the session ended at 8pm, People Power lawmaker Raymond Chan Chi-chuen effectively preempted Secretary for Commerce and Economic
READ MORE: Hong Kong government’s shelving of controversial copyright bill: what went wrong?
Development Greg So Kam-leung, who had vowed to “let go” of the legislative process on Friday.
While Chan said it was time to wrap up the meeting, So hit out at Chan and everyone else in the pan-democratic camp. “Actually you [Chan] need not be afraid of tabling this motion. Although you’ll be the killer, all the pan-democrats are collectively killers,” he said.
Several pro-establishment lawmakers expressed anger at So’s “procrastination”, saying he should have tabled the adjournment motion on Thursday rather than leave it to Chan.
Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, also an executive councillor, said she would not sit in the chamber throughout the day and would leave for a dinner banquet, adding: “Legco has been turned into a funeral hall. Why should I sit with a corpse?”
