HONG KONG (AP) — The Latest on protests in Hong Kong against extradition bill (all times local):

Hong Kong's chief executive has met with her Executive Council as pressure mounts for her to delay or withdraw an unpopular extradition bill.

Carrie Lam, who was appointed by Beijing, is expected to speak with media later Saturday. TV networks showed members of the Executive Council, or cabinet, headed by car into a government compound.

Some Executive Council members have urged Lam to suspend debate on the bill, which would allow Hong Kong suspects to be tried in mainland China.

Another mass protest is expected Sunday after clashes turned violent on Wednesday, leaving about 80 people injured including 22 police officers.

Pressure on Hong Kong's chief executive Carrie Lam has been mounting, with signs emerging that she may delay an unpopular extradition bill that has drawn hundreds of thousands of people into the streets in protest.

Reports say Lam is expected to make an announcement Saturday after talks that continued late into Friday night. Another mass protest is expected Sunday.

The pressure on Lam to withdraw the bill is intense, with many protesters demanding she quit. The Beijing-appointed leader of the former British colony is caught between a public anxious to protect civil liberties and legal protections guaranteed when control of the territory was handed to China in 1997, and her Communist Party bosses.

Protests died down late in the week after clashes with police that turned violent on Wednesday. </s> HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong is bracing for another massive protest over an unpopular extradition bill, a week after the crisis brought as many as 1 million into the streets.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Saturday said she was suspending work on the bill that would allow some suspects to be sent for trial in mainland Chinese courts.

But pro-democracy activists say that's not enough. They want the proposal withdrawn and are calling for Lam to step down.

Mourners meanwhile laid flowers Sunday on the pavement near where a man fell to his death a day earlier after hanging a protest banner on scaffolding on a shopping mall.

Emergency workers tried to cushion the man's fall but failed to catch him. </s> In what appears to be a “stunning” and “unprecedented” victory for the leaders of Hong Kong’s massive protest movement (and a similarly unexpected capitulation from the city’s leaders), City Executive Carrie Lam announced on Saturday that her government would suspend the hated extradition bill “indefinitely,” leaving it unclear whether the legislation would ever be brought back.

The SCMP previewed the decision on Friday, but even then it seemed hard to believe, given the immense pressure Beijing has applied to Lam and her government to pass the bill, which would allow Hong Kong to extradite people who are wanted on the mainland. But the plan has faced unprecedented opposition both in Hong Kong and the US, where Congress has threatened to pass legislation diminishing Hong Kong’s status as an “independent” territory.

Lam has run the city since being installed by Beijing in 2017. The last popular protest movement in the country, the so-called ‘Umbrella’ movement of 2014, failed to stop Beijing from effectively pre-screening candidates for the city’s leadership.

Though it has been indefinitely suspended, Lam made it clear that she wasn’t killing the bill, and that it would be re-considered some day. She apologized for the rollout of the bill, and said that its benefits had not been clearly communicated to the public.

Lam said she felt “sorrow and regret” that she had failed to convince the public that it was needed, and pledged to listen to more views. – READ MORE </s> HONG KONG (AP) — The Latest on protests in Hong Kong against an extradition bill (all times local):

Hong Kong's police commissioner says only people who committed violence will be charged with rioting during clashes between police and protesters outside the legislature on Wednesday, in an apparent attempt to defuse widespread public anger over aggressive police tactics.

Stephen Lo Wai-chung on Monday defended the police response to the protests by tens of thousands of people as appropriate. It included the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and steel batons against protesters who removed barriers. He described the fracas as a riot, but said only five of 15 arrested people were accused of rioting, a serious charge that can result in a prison term of up to 10 years.

Another 17 people were arrested in the vicinity on lesser charges.

Protesters in Hong Kong have gathered outside the office of the city's leader, demanding that she resign for her handling of an unpopular extradition bill.

The mostly young demonstrators blocked a street Monday near the city's waterfront as they stood outside the office of Chief Executive Carrie Lam, chanting calls for her to give up the proposed legislation.

Lam has apologized for the crisis and suspended work on the bill, which would allow suspects to face trial in mainland Chinese courts.

Protesters are demanding that she scrap the bill and that authorities apologize for how police quelled an earlier demonstration, using tear gas, rubber bullets and other forceful means. They also want the government not to prosecute those involved, and to withdraw Lam's designation of the protest as a "riot."

A member of Hong Kong's Executive Council has said the city's leader plans to apologize again over her handling of a highly unpopular extradition bill.

Lam Ching-choi told reporters that Chief Executive Carrie Lam was sincerely sorry for mishandling the issue, which drew an estimated 2 million people into the streets in protest on Sunday.

He said Monday that the "number does tell the story. A lot of Hong Kong people don't think the government is thinking very seriously about the present issues."

He said Hong Kong's leaders made a "big mistake" in not consulting the public before proposing the legislation.

He said, "I believe she will communicate her apologies to the public in the near future."

Joshua Wong, a leader in Hong Kong's 2014 Umbrella Movement demonstrations, headed to join protesters gathered near Hong Kong's government headquarters after his release from prison.

After speaking to journalists who mobbed him as he left the correctional facility Monday, Wong laid flowers at a makeshift memorial outside a downtown shopping mall where a protester fell to his death Saturday night after hanging a banner on some scaffolding.

Wong's release came as protesters were still gathered near Hong Kong's government headquarters after a protest over an extradition bill promoted by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam. Organizers said the march drew nearly 2 million people.

"Hello world and hello freedom. GO HONG KONG!! he said in a tweet. "Withdraw the extradition bill. Carrie Lam step down. Drop all political persecutions."

Wong served half of a two-month sentence for contempt related to his involvement in the 2014 protests advocating a more democratic elections process.

A former legislator says protesters are angry their demands are not getting a response from Hong Kong's leader and he sees their current mission as planning for the long term.

After a massive demonstration on Sunday, the remaining protesters who stayed overnight agreed to get off the roads and allow traffic to return to normal in the area Monday morning. They say the suspension of the extradition bill that set off the past week's demonstrations was not enough. They want the bill to be dropped entirely and for leader Carrie Lam to resign.

Former Hong Kong legislator Lee Cheuk-yan says the activists' mission has become a long-term struggle and not a daily struggle. "So if Carrie Lam does not respond to the five demands by the protesters, people will come back and the struggle will continue."

Joshua Wong, a leading figure in Hong Kong's 2014 Umbrella Movement demonstrations, has vowed to join the latest protests after he was released from prison.

Wong's release Monday came as protesters were gathered near Hong Kong's government headquarters after a protest on Sunday that organizers said drew nearly 2 million people.

He told journalists that he needed a bit of time but that "no matter what happens, I will join the protest soon."

Wong served half of a two-month sentence for contempt related to his involvement in the 2014 protests advocating a more democratic elections process.

The latest protests were set off by an extradition bill that would allow some criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trials. The legislation has been suspended but residents worry it is a sign of weakening judicial independence in Hong Kong.

Protesters in Hong Kong have begun leaving the streets and gathering near the city's government headquarters.

The demonstrators who stayed after a massive protest march the day before were seen streaming Monday morning into a space outside Hong Kong's Legislative Council after police who had cleared it reopened the area.

Their decision to leave major streets allowed police to reopen them to traffic, averting the possibility of clashes similar to those that broke out June 12, resulting in about 80 people being injured.

Activists were staging strikes and other smaller events Monday. There are demanding that Hong Kong Chief Executive scrap a proposed extradition bill that she has suspended under intense pressure from residents worried it would undermine legal protections in the former British colony.

Protesters in Hong Kong have refused police requests to clear the streets.

A policewoman using a loudspeaker asked them to cooperate Monday morning as police lined up several officers deep and faced them.

A woman in black speaking for the protesters responded with her own microphone. She said they were not blocking anyone from getting to work and would leave only after Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam came to hear them out.

Police removed some of the barriers protesters had set up but refrained from using force. The protesters later put the barriers back and remained.

They are among hundreds who stayed overnight after a huge protest Sunday against a bill that raised fears about China's control of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong police and protesters are facing off Monday morning as authorities try to clear the streets of a few hundred people who stayed near the city government headquarters after massive demonstrations that stretched deep into the night.

The police asked for cooperation in clearing the road. Protesters responded with chants, some kneeling in front of the officers. The move came after activists rejected an apology from the city's top leader for her handling of legislation that has stoked fears of expanding control from Beijing in this former British colony.

Nearly 2 million of the city's 7 million people turned out on Sunday, according to estimates by protest organizers. Police said 338,000 were counted on the designated protest route in the "peak period" of the march. </s> Hundreds of mothers protest against the amendments to the extradition law in Hong Kong on Friday, June 14, 2019. Calm appeared to have returned to Hong Kong after days of protests by students and human rights activists opposed to a bill that would allow suspects to be tried in mainland Chinese courts. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

HONG KONG (AP) — Pressure on Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam was mounting Saturday, with signs emerging that she may delay an unpopular extradition bill that has drawn hundreds of thousands of people into the streets in protest.

Lam was expected to hold a news conference at 3 p.m. (0700 GMT), the government said in an announcement. It gave no details about what she planned to say.

Another mass protest was expected on Sunday, after clashes that turned violent on Wednesday, leaving about 80 people injured including 22 police officers.

The standoff between police and protesters in the former British colony is Hong Kong’s most severe political crisis since the Communist Party-ruled mainland took control in 1997 with a promise not to interfere with the city’s civil liberties and courts.

Lam, chosen by Beijing to be the highest-level local official, is caught between her Communist Party bosses and a public anxious to protect the liberties they enjoy as a former British colony.

Opponents want her to withdraw the bill, which would allow Hong Kong suspects to be tried in mainland China. She has said she won’t, and has the backing of leaders in Beijing. Many protesters are demanding she quit.

Protests died down late in the week, but around midnight Friday there were still dozens of youths singing and standing vigil near the city’s government headquarters, where demonstrators had tussled with police who deployed tear gas, pepper spray, hoses and steel batons as thousands pushed through barricades.

Police said 11 were arrested. Lam declared that Wednesday’s violence was “rioting,” potentially raising severe legal penalties for those arrested for taking part. In past cases of unrest, authorities have waited months or years before rounding up protest leaders. In April, nine leaders of a 2014 pro-democracy protest movement known as the “Umbrella Revolution” were convicted on public nuisance and other charges.

Lam was facing calls from both outside and within her government to delay the extradition legislation that has spurred the protests.

Some members of the Executive Council, Hong Kong’s cabinet, said she should perhaps rethink plans to rush the bills’ passage. A group of former senior government officials issued a public letter urging her not to force a confrontation by pushing ahead with the unpopular bills.

Many in Hong Kong fear the measures would undermine the former British colony’s legal autonomy.

More than 1,000 people joined a peaceful “mother’s protest” Friday evening in a downtown garden.

Adding to tensions, the extradition bill has drawn criticism from U.S. and British lawmakers and human rights groups, prompting Beijing to lash back with warnings against “interference” in its internal affairs.

It is unclear how the local leadership might defuse the crisis, given Beijing’s strong support for the extradition bill and its distaste for dissent — and for foreign pressure.

Many experts believe Lam might be obliged to step down, assuming responsibility for the uproar the bill has raised.

Anson Chan, a former chief secretary for Hong Kong, said Lam still could keep her post if she backs down.

“What the people are attempting to tell is that we are very worried about the consequences of passing the extradition bill, because no one will feel safe, even in their own beds, after passage of this bill,” Chan said in an interview.

“It places everybody’s individual freedom and safety at risk,” said Chan, who as chief secretary was the top local civil servant under former British Gov. Chris Patton. </s> Beijing reiterated its backing of Hong Kong’s embattled leader Carrie Lam on Monday after a massive demonstration demanding her resignation over a controversial extradition bill.

Protest organisers said some 2 million people choked Hong Kong’s streets on Sunday — despite Lam’s decision to indefinitely suspend passage of the bill a day earlier.

Critics fear the Beijing-backed law will entangle people in China’s notoriously opaque and politicised courts and damage the city’s reputation as a safe business hub.

Although Lam offered a rare concession on Saturday, she stopped short of committing to permanently scrapping the unpopular law.

Her gesture was swiftly rejected by protest leaders who called on her to resign, shelve the bill entirely and apologise for police using tear gas and rubber bullets earlier in the week.

But Lam — the first woman to get the international financial hub’s top job — continues to enjoy support from the Chinese leadership.

“The central government will continue to firmly support the chief executive and efforts by the government of the Special Administrative Region to govern according to law,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular briefing.

Lam took over as Hong Kong’s chief executive in March 2017 when a committee stacked with Beijing loyalists voted her into office.

Beijing had earlier backed Lam’s decision to suspend the bill saying it was an attempt to “listen more widely” to different views and “restore calm.”

But Lu from China’s foreign ministry said the protests are “not in line with the mainstream public opinion in Hong Kong.”

“Many facts have shown that foreign governments and even some politicians have been making inflammatory remarks since the decision of the Hong Kong government to start amending the extradition ordinance in February,” Lu said. </s> HONG KONG -- Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam sought to quell public anger Saturday by shelving an unpopular extradition bill that has highlighted apprehension about relations with mainland China, but opponents of the measure said it was not enough.

Activists said they were still planning a mass protest for today, a week after hundreds of thousands marched to demand Lam drop the legislation, which many fear would undermine freedoms enjoyed by the former British colony but not elsewhere in China.

The battle over the proposal to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance to allow some suspects to face trial in mainland Chinese courts has evolved into Hong Kong's most severe political test since the Communist Party-ruled mainland took control in 1997 with a promise not to interfere with the city's civil liberties and courts.

Critics said Lam should withdraw the plan for good, resign and apologize for police use of potentially lethal force during clashes with protesters on Wednesday.

"Democrats in Hong Kong simply cannot accept this suspension decision," said lawmaker Claudia Mo. "Because the suspension is temporary. The pain is still there."

The decision was "too little, too late," she said.

"Hong Kong people have been lied to so many times," said Bonny Leung, a leader of the Civil Human Rights Front, one of the groups that has helped organize the demonstrations.

Lam has said the legislation is needed if Hong Kong is. to uphold justice, meet its international obligations and not become a magnet for fugitives. The proposed bill would expand the scope of criminal suspect transfers to include Taiwan, Macau and mainland China.

China has been excluded from Hong Kong's extradition agreements because of concerns over its judicial independence and human rights record.

Speaking to reporters after announcing her decision Saturday, Lam sidestepped questions over whether she should quit. She insisted she was not withdrawing the proposed amendment and defended the police.

But she said she was suspending the bill indefinitely. It was time, she said, "for responsible government to restore as quickly as possible this calmness in society."

"I want to stress that the government is adopting an open mind," she said. "We have no intention to set a deadline for this work."

She emphasized that a chief concern was to avoid further injuries both for the public and for police. About 80 people were hurt in the clashes last week, more than 20 of them police.

"It's possible there might be even worse confrontations that might be replaced by very serious injuries to my police colleagues and the public," she said. "I don't want any of those injuries to happen."

Lam apologized for what she said were failures in her government's work to win public support for the bill, which is opposed by a wide range of sectors in Hong Kong, including many teachers, students, lawyers and trade unions.

But she insisted the bill was still needed.

"Give us another chance," she said.

Beijing-appointed Lam said she had the central government's backing for her decision to yield to the protests. A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, said in a statement Saturday that the Chinese government "expresses support, respect and understanding" for Lam's decision.

Many analysts believe that given deep public frustration over expanding control from Beijing under President Xi Jinping, China's strongest leader in decades, Lam might eventually have to abandon the plan altogether.

"If there's more mass action this week that doesn't degenerate into smashing, they will have to," said Ken Courtis, an investment banker who has worked in Hong Kong off and on for many years.

The anger seen in the streets has been directed squarely at Lam and the Hong Kong government, not Beijing, he notes.

"Young people continue to be very dissatisfied," said Courtis, chairman of Starfort Investment Holdings. "The economy's not growing like people thought it would grow."

Lam acknowledged that the government needed to tackle other issues, especially a dire lack of affordable housing. She also cited the economy as a concern.

The extradition bill has drawn criticism from U.S. and British lawmakers and human rights groups, prompting Beijing to lash back with warnings against "interference" in its internal affairs.

But analysts say China also has to weigh the risk of seeing Hong Kong, a vital port and financial center of 7 million people, possibly losing its special economic status.

Under the 1992 U.S.-Hong Kong Policy Act, Beijing needs to abide by its "one country, two systems" promises to respect the territory's legal autonomy for 50 years as promised under the agreement signed with Britain for the 1997 handover.

Already, many believe the territory's legal autonomy has been significantly diminished despite Beijing's insistence that it is still honoring those promises. </s> Demonstrators hold signs during a protest to demand authorities scrap a proposed extradition bill with China, in Hong Kong, China June 9, 2019.

After days of protests, the Hong Kong government suspended a proposed extradition bill on the weekend — a move that surprised some China watchers.

The proposed legislation would have allowed fugitives to be handed over to Beijing, fueling concerns that Hong Kong's legal system may be compromised by closer judicial ties with China.

Despite the suspension, protesters turned up in force demanding the resignation of the city's Chief Executive Carrie Lam.

"This is a victory for the protesters, without question," said Duncan Innes-Ker, Asia regional director at the Economist Intelligence Unit, after the proposal was put on hold indefinitely — though not completely scrapped.

"However, in broader terms, the (Chinese) central government is unlikely to back off from its ongoing efforts to tighten political controls over Hong Kong," Innes-Ker added.

He questioned Lam's future as the leader of the territory, and criticized her "poorly judged statements during the demonstrations" that "only served to inflame public anger."

While Lam issued an apology through a government spokesperson on Sunday, organizers of the mass protests called said it was impersonal and a "total insult" to protesters. </s> Hundreds of people took to the streets in Hong Kong on Sunday dressed in black to demand the city's embattled leader steps down, a day after she suspended an extradition bill in a dramatic retreat following the most violent protests in decades.

Activists set up gazebos as protesters, some carrying flowers, started to gather in sweltering summer heat to march from Victoria Park to Hong Kong's central government offices.

Beijing-backed Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Saturday indefinitely delayed the extradition bill that could send people to mainland China to face trial, expressing "deep sorrow and regret".

The about-face was one of the most significant political turnarounds by the Hong Kong government since Britain returned the territory to China in 1997, and it threw into question Lam's ability to continue to lead the city.

Activist investor David Webb, in a newsletter on Sunday, said if Lam was a stock he would recommend shorting her with a target price of zero.

"Call it the Carrie trade. She has irrevocably lost the public's trust," Webb said.

"Her minders in Beijing, while expressing public support for now, have clearly lined her up for the chop by distancing themselves from the proposal in recent days."

Protest organizers are hoping more than a million people turn up for the Sunday rally, scheduled to start at 2.30 p.m. local time, similar to numbers they estimated for a demonstration against the proposed extradition bill last Sunday. Police put that count at 240,000.

Violent clashes on Wednesday when police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters near the heart of the financial center grabbed global headlines and forced some banks to shut branches.

Some Hong Kong tycoons have started moving personal wealth offshore over concerns about the proposed extradition law, which critics warn could erode the city's international status.

The city's independent legal system was guaranteed under laws governing Hong Kong's return from British to Chinese rule 22 years ago, and is seen by business and diplomatic communities as its strong remaining asset amid encroachments from Beijing.

Hong Kong has been governed under a "one country, two systems" formula since its return to Beijing, allowing freedoms not enjoyed on mainland China but not a fully democratic vote.

Many accuse Beijing of extensive meddling since then, including obstruction of democratic reforms, interference with elections and of being behind the disappearance of five Hong Kong-based booksellers, starting in 2015, who specialised in works critical of Chinese leaders.

Some opponents of the extradition bill said a suspension was not enough and want it scrapped and Lam to go.

"If she refuses to scrap this controversial bill altogether, it would mean we wouldn't retreat. She stays on, we stay on," said pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo.

Asked repeatedly on Saturday if she would step down, Lam avoided answering directly and appealed to the public to "give us another chance." Lam said she had been a civil servant for decades and still had work she wanted to do.

She added that she felt "deep sorrow and regret that the deficiencies in our work and various other factors have stirred up substantial controversies and disputes in society".

Lam's reversal was hailed by business groups and overseas governments.

"AmCham is relieved by the government decision to suspend the extradition bill and that it listened to the Hong Kong people and international business community," said Tara Joseph, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.

The UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Twitter: "Well done HK Government for heeding concerns of the brave citizens who have stood up for their human rights".

China's top newspaper on Sunday condemned "anti-China lackeys" of foreign forces in Hong Kong.

"Certain people in Hong Kong have been relying on foreigners or relying on young people to build themselves up, serving as the pawns and lackeys of foreign anti-China forces," the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily said in a commentary.

"This is resolutely opposed by the whole of the Chinese people including the vast majority of Hong Kong compatriots."

The Hong Kong protests have been the largest in the city since crowds came out against the bloody suppression of pro-democracy demonstrations centered around Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

Officials said 72 people were admitted to hospitals from the Wednesday protest, while a man died on Saturday after plunging from construction scaffolding where he unfurled a banner denouncing Hong Kong’s extradition bill, local media reported.

Lam had said the extradition law was necessary to prevent criminals using Hong Kong as a place to hide and that human rights would be protected by the city's court which would decide on the extraditions on a case-by-case basis.

Critics, including leading lawyers and rights groups, note China's justice system is controlled by the Communist Party, and say it is marked by torture and forced confessions, arbitrary detention and poor access to lawyers.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam announces that the government has suspended its plan to allow extraditions to mainland China.