HONG KONG, Sept 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Hong Kong’s main stock benchmark surged more than 3 per cent on Wednesday afternoon after media reported the government would formally withdraw the proposed extradition Bill.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam will officially withdraw the proposed extradition Bill later on Wednesday, meeting one of the protesters’ key demands, CNA reported, quoting local media.
Citing anonymous sources, the local media said the withdrawal of the Bill, which would have allowed Hong Kong citizens to be sent to mainland China to face trial, is one of the main demands of protesters who have plunged the city into its deepest crisis in decades.
The unrest has been piling pressure on Lam who is reported to have told a group of business people last week that she had “very, very limited” ability to end the crisis and it had been elevated “to a national level”, a reference to the leadership in Beijing.
Her comments in an audio recording of the meeting were reported by Reuters on Tuesday.
Lam also said in the recording that she would step down if she had a choice, fuelling protesters’ complaints that the partial autonomy granted to Hong Kong in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” agreement is being slowly eroded by Beijing.
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