Business leaders in the region take tentative steps in face of contentious bill

Days after Hong Kong’s first major protest against its stalled extradition law, a property firm decided to take a £2.5m hit and abandon an option to develop a slice of prime city land, blaming “social contradiction and economic instability”.

The decision by Goldin Financial Holdings was made after one of its directors, a pro-Beijing lawmaker called Abraham Shek Lai-him, called an urgent meeting to discuss whether to go ahead with the project on part of the old city airport.

Joshua Wong blames Hong Kong leader for city’s protests, despite her apology

Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, is the person responsible for mobilising the biggest protests in the city’s history, the freed student activist Joshua Wong has said.

The 22-year-old, who was the face of the last major demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2014, was released from jail on Monday following a two-month term for contempt of court.

Calls for leader to stand down after estimated 2 million march over unpopular extradition bill

Protesters have kept up pressure on Hong Kong’s leader by blocking streets outside the shuttered legislature building and welcoming the city’s most prominent political activist, Joshua Wong, on his release from jail.

As the political crisis entered its second week, Hong Kong’s police chief admitted that his officers had sought to arrest wounded demonstrators in hospitals after a previous protest, but claimed criminal screening was routine for anyone arriving at A&E.

Crowds mourn the unknown activist, praising his passion and sense of justice

Many among the vast crowds that marched through Hong Kong on Sunday carried white flowers tributes to an anonymous man who had fallen to his death the previous evening after unfurling a large protest banner on scaffolding near government headquarters.

No one knew the man’s name, or why he was there, even though protesters and an opposition politician spent hours trying to persuade him to come down with hymns and exhortations.

Authorities urged to withdraw extradition bill as Carrie Lam apology fails to calm ire

A wave of protesters hundreds of thousands strong, most dressed in black and many carrying white flowers of mourning, have swept through central Hong Kong to denounce a controversial extradition law and demand the city’s leader, Carrie Lam, steps down.

They poured in from all over the city, in numbers so large that the march route had to be extended, and then widened, with crowds spilling from the main road to fill neighbouring streets, and halting all traffic outside government headquarters.

Pro-Beijing politician also urges pause and diplomat distances China from law

The pressure of Hong Kong public opinion against a proposed extradition law appears to be causing cracks in the unity of pro-Beijing leaders after two senior figures called for the legislation to be delayed or dropped.

Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, has staked her authority on pushing through the legislation, vowing not to back down during a week in which protests have convulsed the city. She has compared demonstrators who were pelted with rubber bullets and teargas to spoilt children.