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Hong Kong protests: Carrie Lam has ruled out commission of inquiry into police actions, so what can replace it and will it work?

  • In a new series of in-depth articles on the unrest rocking Hong Kong, the Post goes behind the headlines to look at the underlying issues, current state of affairs, and where it is all heading
  • As Lam accedes to one of the protesters’ demands, we look into other ways the chief executive can quell the violence and whether she can learn from Britain’s London riots or the ‘yellow vests’ in France

Reading Time:11 minutes
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Illustration: Brian Wang

On Wednesday, when word leaked that Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was about to make an important announcement, political watchers were betting she would tick off two of the five demands of protesters who have been taking to the streets for nearly three months.

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They were disappointed. Instead, she conceded only to formally withdrawing the hated extradition bill that had sparked the worst crisis gripping Hong Kong since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997. On their other key demand for a commission of inquiry (COI) to investigate police actions, she stood firm, putting an end to recent talk that she was open to it.

Just last week, during a closed-door meeting with 19 of the city’s most influential figures at Government House, she did not reject the option.

Earlier last month too, Beijing official Zhang Xiaoming, director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, left that possibility open when he met leading Hong Kong businesspeople for a heart-to-heart chat in nearby Shenzhen.
Carrie Lam announces the withdrawal of the extradition bill, meeting one of the protesters’ demands. Photo: Sam Tsang
Carrie Lam announces the withdrawal of the extradition bill, meeting one of the protesters’ demands. Photo: Sam Tsang
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Since June, several heavyweights including religious leaders, former government officials and former chief justice Andrew Li Kwok-nang have added their voices to the protesters’ demand for a judge-led, legally binding independent COI.

The protesters have used the label of “police brutality” to describe the force’s actions in calling for such a probe.

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