Hong Kong (CNN) More than 1 million protesters took to the streets of Hong Kong Sunday, organizers said, to oppose a controversial extradition bill that would enable China to extradite fugitives from the city.

The mass of protesters would be the largest demonstration since the city was handed back to China in 1997. Civil Human Rights Front, the group that organized the protests, said 1.03 million people marched -- a figure that accounts for almost one in seven of the city's 7.48 million-strong population.

Hong Kong Police estimated the number of protesters closer to 240,000.

Critics say the bill will leave anyone on Hong Kong soil vulnerable to being grabbed by the Chinese authorities for political reasons or inadvertent business offenses and undermine the city's semi-autonomous legal system.

The bill has caused political gridlock, outcry among the city's usually pro-conservative business community, and even physical scuffles in the city's legislature, as well as criticism of the Hong Kong government by the United States and European Union.

-- such as Taiwan, Macau and mainland China. Lawmakers have said the The government says the bill is designed to plug loopholes in current law by allowing Hong Kong to decide on a case-by-case basis whether or not to send fugitives to territories where it doesn't have formal extradition deals-- such as Taiwan, Macau and mainland China. Lawmakers have said the guarantee of a fair trial will not be written into the bill.

Protesters waved placards and wore white -- the designated color of the rally. "Hong Kong, never give up!" some chanted.

Sunday afternoon, protesters gathered at Victoria Park in central Hong Kong, waving placards and wearing white -- the designated color of the rally. "Hong Kong, never give up!" some chanted.

Other protesters were heard chanting "step down," "shelve the evil law," "anti extradition to China," and called for Carrie Lam, the chief executive of Hong Kong, to step down, as the marchers made their way along the 3-kilometer (1.86-mile) route to the Legislative Council in the Admiralty business district.

At least seven people were arrested, the police posted to Twitter

At around 7:30 p.m. in Hong Kong (7:30 a.m. ET), five to six men with masks planned to occupy a main road in the city, Hong Kong Police said on Twitter.

Police said they used pepper spray on the protesters before they escaped the area. Officers urged protesters to disperse.

The protest was mostly peaceful during the day, but it turned violent overnight, with police trying to clear protesters with batons.

Thousands also gathered to protest the extradition bill in cities across Australia on Sunday. Similar marches were planned in other cities around the world, Hong Kong political group Demosisto said in a statement.

At about 10.30 p.m. (10.30 a.m. ET), organizers announced that the protest had ended. CNN journalists on the ground said the bulk of the protesters had dispersed by then, leaving a number of people milling around the Legislative Council.

Late Sunday, the government of Hong Kong released a statement acknowledging the ongoing protests across the island but reiterating the contested bill is still scheduled to resume debate June 12.

"We urge the Legislative Council to scrutinize the Bill in a calm, reasonable and respectful manner to help ensure Hong Kong remains a safe city for residents and business," it said.

Murder of tourist

The case for the bill was expedited by a grisly murder case in Taiwan, where a 20-year-old Hong Kong woman was allegedly killed by her boyfriend while on holiday there. Currently, the suspect cannot be sent from Hong Kong to face justice in Taiwan.

In #HongKong, scores of protesters - including this family - gather in Victoria Park to take part in a march against the proposed #extradition law. pic.twitter.com/Qc61f6REEk — Kristie Lu Stout✌🏽 (@klustout) June 9, 2019

However, Taipei has already said it will refuse to cooperate with the new law if it puts Taiwanese citizens at risk of being extradited to China. The self-ruled island has previously seen citizens accused of crimes in countries that do not recognize Taiwan diplomatically being handed to Chinese custody , despite objections of Taipei.

Earlier this week, Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, slammed the bill.

"People have known exactly why there shouldn't be an extradition agreement with China for years," Patten said in a video message Thursday. "The argument that it's better to have an extradition treaty than to abduct people illegally from Hong Kong -- are people really supposed to believe that?"

Protesters take part in a rally against the proposed extradition law on April 28, 2019, in Hong Kong.

Last month, representatives from the European Union met with Lam, the chief executive, and expressed concern over the bill. Members of the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) have also spoken out against the bill, warning Lam it could "negatively impact the relationship between the United States and Hong Kong."

Unwanted and unneeded?

Business groups in Hong Kong usually take a neutral stance on contentious political issues. But this time they, too, have spoken out against the bill. In a bid to secure their support, the government has limited the scope of extraditable offenses -- but for some that is still not enough.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong warned last week there were "too many uncertainties in fundamental sections of the proposed legislation" for it to be passed in its current form.

"Hong Kong is not ready to see this bill passed and we do not see why it should be rushed through when the loophole it seeks to address has existed for 20 years," the chamber said in a statement.

A woman holds a poster of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, against a proposed extradition law, before a candlelight vigil at Victoria Park in Hong Kong on June 4, 2019.

But government spokesman Matthew Cheung said the move was time sensitive.

"The suspect in the Taiwan murder case is serving sentences for other criminal offenses in Hong Kong but is expected to be released this October," Cheung said. "There is thus a pressing need to provide a legal basis for the assistance that we want to render to Taiwan, before the (legislature) goes into summer recess from mid-July to October."

Cheung did not address Taipei's concerns over the bill. Separately, Lam said it was "unfounded" to suggest the Hong Kong government "will just follow the instructions given by the Central Government and surrender whatever fugitives that the Central Government wants."

A US State Department spokesperson said Washington is "concerned by the Hong Kong government's proposed amendments to its Fugitive Offenders Ordinance, which would allow for individuals to be transferred to mainland China at the request of Communist Party authorities, and is closely monitoring the situation."

"Societies are best served when diverse political views are respected and can be freely expressed," the spokesperson said in a statement. "Continued erosion of the 'One country, Two systems' framework puts at risk Hong Kong's long-established special status in international affairs."

Fierce opposition

The extradition bill, particularly an attempt to fast-track it through Hong Kong's semi-democratic Legislature, has reinvigorated the city's flagging opposition movement after numerous setbacks.

Organizers claimed 130,000 people took part in a protest against the bill in April . While police gave the lower figure of 22,800, it was still the biggest protest since the 2014 Umbrella Movement, an ultimately unsuccessful protest over political reform which shut down parts of the city for months.

Photos: Massive Hong Kong vigil held 30 years after Tiananmen A candlelight vigil, held in Hong Kong's Victoria Park on Tuesday, remembered the victims of the 1989 massacre in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Hide Caption 1 of 8 Photos: Massive Hong Kong vigil held 30 years after Tiananmen The annual candlelight vigil has been taking place in Hong Kong's Victoria Park since 1990. The vigil calls for the release of all dissidents, rehabilitation of the 1989 pro-democracy movement, accountability for the massacre, the end of one-party dictatorship and the start of a democratic China. Hide Caption 2 of 8 Photos: Massive Hong Kong vigil held 30 years after Tiananmen For many who lived in Hong Kong in 1989, the massacre quashed their hopes that a rapidly reforming China would also bring democracy to the city. "Young people in China were demanding democracy," Lee Cheuk-yan, one of the organizers, told CNN in 2017. "We felt that if they made it, it meant Hong Kong would not have to live under an authoritarian regime." The massacre forever changed the character of Hong Kong, Lee said. "In the past we were something of an economic city, but after 1989 we became a political city." Hide Caption 3 of 8 Photos: Massive Hong Kong vigil held 30 years after Tiananmen While attendance at the annual vigil has fluctuated — with some, particularly younger people, complaining that the focus on democracy in China ignores more pressing demands for reform in the city — key anniversaries have always brought massive numbers to Victoria Park. According to the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, more than 200,000 people attended a commemoration in 2009, and 180,000 came out in 2014 for the 25th anniversary. Hide Caption 4 of 8 Photos: Massive Hong Kong vigil held 30 years after Tiananmen Tens of thousands filled Victoria Park on Tuesday, ignoring sweltering heat and threatening clouds overhead. Most wore black and almost all held candles overhead. The crowd chanted: "Demand accountability for the massacre! End one-party dictatorship! Build a democratic China!" Hide Caption 5 of 8 Photos: Massive Hong Kong vigil held 30 years after Tiananmen Students at the University of Hong Kong clean the "Pillar of Shame" statue, a memorial for those killed in the 1989 crackdown. Hide Caption 6 of 8 Photos: Massive Hong Kong vigil held 30 years after Tiananmen Students at the University of Hong Kong observe a minute of silence in front of the "Pillar of Shame" statue. Hide Caption 7 of 8 Photos: Massive Hong Kong vigil held 30 years after Tiananmen A Chinese paramilitary police officer stands guard in front of Mao Zedong's portrait on Beijing's Tiananmen Gate on Tuesday. Hide Caption 8 of 8

Fears over the bill -- and criticism from a broad swath of Hong Kong society -- echo 2003, when half a million people took to the streets to oppose the passage of an anti-sedition law. That legislation was shelved, but the issue has become such a hot-button topic in Hong Kong that -- despite promising to do so -- no governments since have attempted to introduce it.

Sunday's protest comes days after the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre , a pivotal moment that dashed hopes China would democratize before it took control of Hong Kong in 1997.

Hong Kong has commemorated the massacre with a candlelit vigil ever since, the only place on Chinese soil where mass remembrances are held. Organizers said more than 180,000 people joined a vigil in the city's Victoria Park on Tuesday , the largest such event since the 25th anniversary in 2014, which came in the politically fraught run-up to the Umbrella protests.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the number of people who participated in protests in Hong Kong on Sunday. The Civil Human Rights Front estimates there were 1.03 million protesters. </s> Hong Kong witnessed the largest protest since its 1997 handover to China on Sunday as huge crowds massed against plans to allow extraditions to the mainland, a proposal that has plunged the city's pro-Beijing leaders into a crisis.

Organisers said more than a million people marched in blazing summer heat through the cramped streets of the financial hub's main island in a noisy, colourful demonstration calling on the government to scrap its planned extradition law.

The demonstration was the biggest the international finance hub has experienced since it was returned to China by Britain — beaten only by a 1.5 million-strong rally during colonial rule in 1989 supporting the Tiananmen protesters.

Hong Kong'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.

But the proposals have sparked an outcry and birthed an opposition that unites a wide cross-section of the city.

“The government cannot ignore these numbers,” protester Peter Chan, 21, told AFP. “If they really choose not to response to our demands we will not rule out more action.”

For more than six hours on Sunday dense crowds snaked their way through the city chanting “Scrap the evil law!” and “Oppose China extradition!”, the lines of white-dressed demonstrators stretching for miles.

“There are 1,030,000 people at today's march,” an organiser told crowds outside the city's legislature at the march's end, prompting a cacophony of cheers and applause as new arrivals continued to join.

Police, who historically give much lower figures than organisers, put the peak crowd size at 240,000 -- still their second highest estimate for attendance at a protest since handover.

The city's population is around 7.3 million and the organiser figure for Sunday's protest outstripped 2003, when an estimated half a million demonstrators forced the government to shelve a deeply unpopular national security law.

But it is unclear if the financial hub's current leadership will be moved.

The city's appointed leader Carrie Lam has staked her political reputation on the bill passing.

Ignoring the protests could fuel anger or even a return to the unrest of 2014 when pro-democracy protesters took over key intersections of the city for two months.

Organisers said Sunday they would “upgrade their actions” if the government did not drop the bill.

But backtracking by Lam might embolden opponents and anger Beijing. Several senior Communist Party leaders in China have voiced support for the bill.

In a statement on Sunday evening, the government described the protest as “an example of Hong Kong people exercising their freedom of expression” but did not signal any compromise, urging legislators to continue debating the bill.

Opposition to extradition has come from a wide political and social spectrum.

Lawyers, business groups, activists, journalists and western powers have all voiced alarm.

Hong Kong's leaders say the law is needed to plug loopholes and stop the city from being a bolthole for mainland fugitives.

They say dissidents and critics will not be extradited and have urged the bill's quick passage to extradite a Hong Kong man who is wanted in Taiwan for murdering his girlfriend.

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.

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 books by late July.

In recent weeks Lam's administration has made some key concessions.

They have removed nine economic crimes from a list of extraditable offences and said only offences that carry seven years or more in jail will be considered, up from three. Requests will only be considered from China's top prosecuting authority.

Those steps have received a cautious welcome from some business groups, but others have seized on the concessions as a tacit admission that China's courts are not impartial.

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.

Suspicion of China was worsened by a series of high profile disappearances of people who later appeared in mainland detention, including a group of dissident publishers and a billionaire who disappeared from a top hotel.

Protester Leo Yuen, who said he worked in the arts sector, described the disappearances as “horrifying”. “You can forsee how easily this would happen again if the bill is passed,” he told AFP. </s> Hong Kong police fired pepper spray at protesters near government buildings on Wednesday as tensions ramped up over an extradition bill that would allow people to be sent to mainland China for trial.

Tens of thousands of Hong Kong demonstrators surrounded the Chinese-ruled city's legislature earlier in the day, forcing it to postpone a second round of debate on the extradition bill. </s> Hong Kong police warn they 'will use force' as they fire tear gas at anti-extradition protesters

Hong Kong police have fired pepper spray at protesters angry about an extradition bill that would allow people to be sent to mainland China for trial.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators, most of them young people dressed in black, had gathered peacefully outside government buildings in the Chinese-ruled city before tempers flared, with claims some threw bottles at officers. </s> Beijing: Over a million people marched through Hong Kong city streets on Sunday evening in a massive protest against a bill that would allow people to be extradited to mainland China.

Violence erupted after midnight, as thousands of students attempted a sit-in outside Hong Kong’s legislative council after the march, but were dispersed by police in riot gear using pepper spray and batons.

The organiser's estimate of 1.03 million people marching the three kilometres from Victoria Park would make it the biggest protest since the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.

At handover, China and Britain had agreed Hong Kong would operate under "One Country, Two Systems", allowing Hong Kong's limited government control over immigration, borders and a separate legal system. </s> • Hong Kong residents staged a massive protest on Sunday over a bill that would allow courts to extradite Hong Kong residents in mainland China.
• Hong Kong is a semiautonomous region of China. Critics of the bill argue Hong Kong residents would be subjected to unfair trials and worse legal protections in the mainland.

Hundreds of thousands of residents took to the streets of Hong Kong Sunday in a largely peaceful protest against a bill that would allow residents to be tried in mainland China.

Organizers told The Wall Street Journal 1 million people showed up, or one in every seven residents. Police say 240,000 people showed up.

Critics of the extradition bill say residents would face China’s less transparent legal system. Beijing had previously allowed Hong Kong to keep its own legal system after the British left the colonized region in 1997.

Here’s the history behind why Hong Kong residents staged a mass protest on Sunday.

Hong Kong residents staged a massive protest on Sunday over a bill that would allow courts to extradite Hong Kong residents to mainland China for trial. Protest organizers say 1 million people walked the streets, while the police put the number at 240,000.

The extradition bill would allow officials to send suspected criminals to mainland China to be tried. Critics of the bill argue Hong Kong residents would be subjected to unfair trials and worse legal protections in the mainland.

Hong Kong is a semiautonomous territory in China. The British colonized the area for 150 years. Since handing back the territory to China in 1997, the two governments agreed to allow Hong Kong to retain its own legal systems until 2047.

Yet Beijing has tried to undermine Hong Kong’s sovereignty, resulting in various protests over the last decade. Another major protest happened in 2014 during the ‘Umbrella Revolution,’ when residents rallied against mainland plans to pre-screen Hong Kong leaders.

Human rights groups have expressed concern about China’s use of torture, capital punishment, and arbitrary detention within the legal system.

Critics of the extradition law also call out Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, for a lack of leadership over the unpopular legislation. Lam introduced the bill in February after a Hong Kong resident murdered his girlfriend in Taipei before fleeing back to his home city, and since tweaked the bill after pressure from the opposition.

Some critics from Hong Kong worry China has already begun overstepping on the city’s legal system. A Hong Kong billionaire mysteriously disappeared in January after being into custody in mainland China. A bookseller connected with publications that criticize the communist regime also went missing, before revealing he was taken into Chinese custody.

Source: The New York Times, The New York Times

“I needed to let my voice be heard,” protestor Kitty Wong told the Wall Street Journal. “We need to defend our home for the next generation.” </s> HONG KONG: Hong Kong witnessed its largest protest since the city's 1997 handover to China on Sunday (Jun 9) as hundreds of thousands came out to oppose plans to allow extraditions to the mainland.

The crowds wanted the city's pro-Beijing leaders to scrap the proposals - but there is little sign of that happening, and the issue has plunged the city into a political crisis.

What's the law all about?

The city's government is 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.

They say it is needed to plug existing loopholes and prevent the city from becoming a bolthole for fugitives.

READ: Hong Kong leader says extradition bill will not be scrapped

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says safeguards are in place to protect the city's free speech, and to ensure political cases will not be affected by the extradition law.

She also argues that the law meets international standards for human rights, and that only serious crimes that carry sentences above seven years will be considered.

Fears centre on getting tangled up in China's opaque and politicised courts - whether it be the city's 7.3 million inhabitants or those just passing through the airport.

A broad cross-section of society has opposed the legislation, including lawyers and influential legal bodies, business figures and chambers of commerce, journalists, activists and western envoys.

Then on Sunday some one million people marched against the bill, according to organisers, in unprecedented scenes.

Hong Kong's appointed leaders are increasingly perceived to be doing the bidding of Beijing, and there is little trust in their assurances that the law won't impact the city's prized independent judiciary or its wider freedoms.

Jimmy Sham, convenor of the group behind Sunday's protests, said young people felt "powerless" in the face of a "brutal" government.

Yes. But under the 1997 handover agreement with Britain, China has agreed to a 50-year deal where Hong Kong is able to retain key liberties, such as freedom of speech and an independent judiciary.

The city's courts and rule of law, built around the British legal system, are key to the financial hub's economic success.

The idea of Hong Kong being a bolthole for fugitives had never been high up the political agenda. But after a Hong Kong man murdered his girlfriend while on holiday in Taiwan and fled back home, local authorities seized on the case to call for an overhaul of the law.

Despite confessing to Hong Kong police, authorities were unable to extradite him because the two territories do not share an agreement.

The extradition law was born, covering any place Hong Kong doesn't have a specific agreement with - including mainland China for the first time.

But critics say the Taiwanese case is a Trojan horse to please Beijing.

DOES THE BILL HAVE SUPPORTERS?

Certainly. Outside of Hong Kong's local government, the bill has received public backing from senior party officials in China and state media.

A petition run by a group that supports the bill has collected more than 800,000 signatures, while the Hong Kong government has a comfortable majority of lawmakers who have say they will back the bill.

But proponents have not managed to get people onto the streets in anything like the numbers seen in Sunday's opposition protest, making it hard to gauge genuine public support.

WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT?

There are no signs of the tension diffusing. On Monday Carrie Lam refused to delay or scrap the extradition bill, and said her administration had already made major concessions to protect human rights.

Hong Kong police said they will track down protestors behind violence in the early hours of Monday morning.

But opponents of the law have also doubled down, announcing plans for fresh protests on Wednesday alongside calls for a city-wide strike.

And Beijing has added its own rhetoric to the mix, attacking "foreign forces" for trying to disrupt a "sensible, legitimate" piece of legislation. </s> Organisers say almost two million people participated in a new protest through Hong Kong on Saturday against a controversial extradition bill. Police officials played down the numbers, putting the figure at approximately 240,000. Protestors rammed Hong Kong’s streets in the third mass march in a week against China’s proposed new law for the former British colony. Scenes were largely peaceful after riot police clashed with protestors in angry scenes on Wednesday as tensions ran high.

What is happening in Hong Kong? The protests are about a bill proposed by China to enable suspects to be extradited from Hong Kong to mainland China. Opponents to the legislation say suspects would face China’s opaque legal system, putting them at risk of an unfair judicial process. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam originally supported the move but was forced to back down after widespread anger was unleashed on the streets. READ MORE: SOUTH CHINA SEA TENSIONS SOAR AS BEIJING RIVAL PHILIPPINES PURCHASES MENACING NEW PLANES

She initially delayed the bill’s progress and then later suspended the plans, apologising for its creation on Saturday. Undeterred, protestors marched again on Sunday calling for the law to be scrapped rather than suspended. Joshua Wong, the imprisoned leader of Hong Kong’s 2014 Umbrella Movement, joined demonstrators after being freed and demanded Ms Lam’s resignation. He tweeted: “Hello world and hello freedom. GO HONG KONG!! Withdraw the extradition bill. Carrie Lam step down. Drop all political persecutions.” The bill is contentious as Hong Kong has long enjoyed democratic freedoms not available in mainland China, something people do not want to see changed. READ MORE: MH370 HEARTBREAK” FAMILIES IN BEIJING WERE TOLD MALAYSIA AIRLINES PLANE WAS ‘DELAYED’

Is Hong Kong part of China? How many people live in Hong Kong? Hong Kong is an island sat at the foot of China and is an autonomous territory to the mainland. When the British handed back Hong Kong to China in 1997, they did so on the understanding that it would be governed as “one country, two systems”. This means citizens were allowed to retain their democratic freedoms and judicial system for a further 50 years following the handover. READ MORE: NORTH KOREA’S SECRET WEAPON? KIM JONG-UN PREPARES TO SEND SISTER TO DMZ </s> HONG KONG (AP) - A sea of protesters was marching through central Hong Kong on Sunday in a major demonstration against government-sponsored legislation that would allow people to be extradited to mainland China to face charges.

The massive protest came three days before Hong Kong's government plans to bring the bill to the full legislature, bypassing the committee process, in a bid to win approval by the end of the month.

Hong Kong's leader, Carrie Lam, has pushed forward with the legislation despite widespread criticism from human rights and business groups. Opponents say that China's legal system would not guarantee the same rights to defendants as in semi-autonomous Hong Kong.

"What can we do to get Carrie Lam to listen to us, how many people have to come out to make her reconsider listening to the public?" said Miu Wong, a 24-year-old office worker who joined the protest.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to China in 1997 but retained the right to its own social, legal and political systems for 50 years under a "one country, two systems" framework.

A policeman, left, stands watch as protesters holding umbrellas and placards take part in a rally against the proposed amendments to the extradition law in Hong Kong Sunday, June 9, 2019. The extradition law has aroused concerns that this legislation would undermine the city's independent judicial system as it allows Hong Kong to hand over fugitives to the jurisdictions that the city doesn't currently have an extradition agreement with, including mainland China, where a fair trial might not be guaranteed. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Protesters hold placards as they stage protest against the extradition law in Hong Kong, Sunday, June 9, 2019. The extradition law has aroused concerns that this legislation would undermine the city's independent judicial system as it allows Hong Kong to hand over fugitives to the jurisdictions that the city doesn't currently have an extradition agreement with, including mainland China, where a fair trial might not be guaranteed. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Protesters hold placards as they stage protest against the extradition law in Hong Kong, Sunday, June 9, 2019. The extradition law has aroused concerns that this legislation would undermine the city's independent judicial system as it allows Hong Kong to hand over fugitives to the jurisdictions that the city doesn't currently have an extradition agreement with, including mainland China, where a fair trial might not be guaranteed. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Protesters hold umbrellas and placards march on a street as they take part in a rally against the extradition law in Hong Kong Sunday, June 9, 2019. The extradition law has aroused concerns that this legislation would undermine the city's independent judicial system as it allows Hong Kong to hand over fugitives to the jurisdictions that the city doesn't currently have an extradition agreement with, including mainland China, where a fair trial might not be guaranteed. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Over 1 million people gather in the streets of Hong Kong to protest a new controversial law which would allow the city to extradite fugitives to China.