10 Jun 2020

Hong Kong protests reignite

From Morning Report, 6:48 am on 10 June 2020

One year on from the beginning of the mass pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, protesters once again took to the streets yesterday, but in radically different circumstances.

An estimated 1 million people turned up on June 9th 2019, to speak out against a planned extradition bill. If made law, it would have made it possible for Hong Kong people to be extradited to China if criminal proceedings were deemed appropriate for crimes they'd committed.

Following on from the demonstrations, the bill was withdrawn by the Hong Kong Government.

But protests renewed a couple of weeks ago, after two pieces of legislation were passed in Beijing - the national security law, and the anthem law - which pro-democracy protesters say infringes upon their rights, and defies Hong Kong's unique status.

With Hong Kong still dealing with measures to prevent the transmission of coronavirus, the anniversary events yesterday looked vastly different to those a year ago.

Hong Kong correspondent Richard Kimber spoke to producer Harry Lock about the day's unrest.