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“We vow to be free Hong Kongers”
A 2018 murder in Taiwan committed by a Hong Kong man was used by the Hong Kong SAR government as a pretext to introduce amendments to two ordinances to allow extradition of criminal suspects to countries with which the government does not have extradition arrangements, including mainland China. The proposed amendments—with profound implications for fundamental freedoms of all people living in or visiting Hong Kong—triggered massive and vocal opposition from the people of Hong Kong and condemnations from foreign governments and international bodies. In June 2019, Hong Kong people took to the streets in a series of demonstrations, including a march of an estimated two million people on June 16, the largest in Hong Kong’s history. “We vow to be free Hong Kongers,” says one placard (the one with a tank in the photo above) in the June 16 march. HRIC has compiled a brief timeline of the developments and protests surrounding the extradition amendments.
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2019 Hong Kong Protests: A Brief Timeline

A brief timeline of the developments surrounding the extradition amendments introduced by the Hong Kong SAR government, which triggered a series of mass demonstrations, including a march of an estimated two million people on June 16, 2019, the largest in Hong Kong’s history.

Naked Police Violence in Hong Kong as Beijing Celebrates National Day
New!
As Beijing mounted a tightly choreographed spectacle of tanks, bombers, and missiles, with a march of 15,000 soldiers, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, a police officer in Hong Kong shot a teenage demonstrator in the chest at close range. While...
October 1, 2019
HRIC Bulletin
CECC Hearing: “Hong Kong’s Summer of Discontent and U.S. Policy Responses”
New!
On September 17, HRIC Executive Director Sharon Hom joined three Hong Kong activists and a U.S.-based security expert in testimony before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China in a high-profile, and widely-reported hearing, “ Hong Kong’s Summer of Discontent and U.S. Policy Responses...
September 19, 2019
HRIC Bulletin
Sharon Hom’s Testimony at Congressional-Executive Commission on China’s Hearing: “Hong Kong’s Summer of Discontent and U.S. Policy Responses”
New!
Chairman McGovern, Co-Chairman Rubio, and Members of the Commission, Thank you for this hearing opportunity. It is an honor for me to stand in solidarity with the frontline activists. I want to thank the Commission members for their critical support for the Hong Kong people and leadership on the...
September 17, 2019
Statement
China/Hong Kong: UN experts urge China to respect protesters’ rights
GENEVA (12 September 2019) - UN human rights experts * reacted with alarm to reports of attacks on demonstrators, arrests of activists and human rights defenders, and threats to communications, as protests in Hong Kong entered their third month. The experts welcomed the detailed response to their...
September 12, 2019
HRIC Bulletin
Open letter on the rule of law in China
Across the People’s Republic of China, human rights violations are a systemic reality. Over the past year, the UN has once again documented legal and policy frameworks that fail to protect against discrimination; stigmatise Islam and stifle freedom of religious belief; undermine a wide range of...
September 9, 2019
Joint Statements
Brother of Cheng Yuan, Detained Changsha Legal Advocate, was Summoned with a Blank Summons
In a September 2, 2019 Twitter post titled, " Being Summoned for the Second Time ,"* Cheng Hao, the brother of detained Changsha activist Cheng Yuan, provides an account of his being summoned again by the Zhonghuamen police station in Nanjing. According to his account, three police officers came to...
September 2, 2019
Citizens' Square
Hong Kong: A High-Stakes Gamble Xi Jinping Is Destined to Make
The almost three-month-long struggle of the people of Hong Kong has become the biggest crisis that Xi Jinping has faced since he took office. Since the beginning of the year, the highest authorities in Beijing have been aware that China's overall situation is far from favorable, as a multitude of...
September 3, 2019
HRIC Bulletin
Gao Wenqian
Private Chat on WeChat Is Criminalized——An Appeal by the wife of Li Huaiqing, a private entrepreneur in Chongqing
The case of Li Huaiqing, a private entrepreneur in Chongqing who is suspected of “inciting subversion of state power,” will be tried on August 22. After a year and eight months of silence, Li’s wife, Bao Yan, made her first public appeal, directed at relevant government departments: Don't sit back...
August 19, 2019
Citizens' Square
End Impunity for State-Sanctioned Violence in Hong Kong
Over the past eleven weeks, the international community has watched with alarm the escalation of violence by the Hong Kong police force against a diverse swath of Hong Kong people engaged in peaceful demonstrations against an extradition bill introduced by Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive of the...
August 13, 2019
Statement
Statement by Cheng Hao, brother of Cheng Yuan, about his interrogation by police
On August 12, Cheng Hao, brother of Cheng Yuan, the detained Changsha legal advocate, posted a statement (see below) on Twitter about his interrogation by the police of Zhonghuamen police station in Nanjing on August 8, on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” (寻衅滋事). Cheng Hao was...
August 12, 2019
Citizens' Square
Three Changsha Anti-Discrimination Advocates Face Subversion Charges, Wife is Put Under “Residential Surveillance”
In a case that has shaken anti-discrimination rights defense circles inside China and overseas, state security detained on July 22 three disability rights legal advocates working in Changsha— Cheng Yuan ( 程渊) , Liu Yongze ( 刘永泽) , and Wu Gejianxiong ( 吴葛健雄) —on suspicion of “subversion of state...
August 9, 2019
HRIC Bulletin
HRIC Joins 200 NGOs and Individuals in Appeal for Immediate Release of Changsha Three: Cheng Yuan, Liu Yongze, Xiao Wu
Changsha Three Open Letter To: People's Republic of China Delegation to the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) Mr. Mingzhu Li, Commissioner, Beijing Ms. Juan Li, Deputy Director, Geneva Mr. Gang Xia, Deputy Director-General, Beijing Mr. Yiyun Hu, Deputy Director, Center for STIs and AIDS,...
August 9, 2019
Joint Statements
Huang Qi sentenced to 12 years in prison
The Mianyang Intermediate People’s Court on July 29, 2019, found veteran Sichuan activist Huang Qi ( 黄琦) guilty of “illegally providing state secrets abroad” and “intentionally leaking state secrets.” He was sentenced to 12 years in prison, deprived of political rights for four years, and fined RMB...
July 29, 2019
Case Update
Huang Qi
HRIC Urges Michelle Bachelet to Support the People of Hong Kong
In a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, Human Rights in China urges her to speak out publicly, strongly, and unequivocally to support the people of Hong Kong in their demand for the full withdrawal of an extradition bill that has triggered, over recent weeks,...
June 28, 2019
HRIC Bulletin
2019 Hong Kong Protests: A Brief Timeline
Photo credit: Studio Incendo
“Hong Kong’s Summer of Discontent and U.S. Policy Responses”
A CECC hearing (livestream)

 
Tuesday, September 17, 2019 - 10:00am to 12:00pm

Witnesses:

  • Joshua Wong: Secretary-General, Demosistō and “Umbrella Movement” Leader
  • Denise Ho: Pro-democracy Activist and Cantopop Singer and Actress
  • Sunny Cheung: Spokesperson, Hong Kong Higher Education International Affairs Delegation (HKIAD)
  • Sharon Hom: Executive Director, Human Rights in China and Professor of Law Emerita, City University of New York
  • Dan Garrett, PhD: Author, Counter-hegemonic Resistance in China’s Hong Kong: Visualizing Protest in the City (2014)
Sharon Hom on why Beijing doesn’t get the HK message
BBC Newshour, August 30, 2019

(Hom segment starts at 05:55)

Hong Kong’s protests: The political bill for impunity must be paid sooner or later
Sharon Hom in HKFP: August 7, 2019

A letter to Hong Kong’s Carrie Lam: if not to your own conscience, you will be held accountable by history
Sharon Hom in HKFP: July 27, 2019

HRIC’s “Unforgotten” project

More

For the 30th anniversary of June Fourth, HRIC presents the “Unforgotten” project—a series of profiles of those killed by the Chinese martial law troops. Based on the information accumulated by the Tiananmen Mothers over nearly three decades, “Unforgotten” seeks to honor the lives of the fallen by telling their stories, and generate international support for the Tiananmen Mothers in their three demands from the Chinese government: the truth of what happened, accountability for the killing of unarmed civilians, and compensation to survivors and families of those killed. More profiles will be added to this first group of 30.

In Memoriam

Robert L. Bernstein

1923-2019

Chair emeritus and beloved supporter of
Human Rights in China

With gratitude and in friendship
The staff of HRIC

 

  • Liu Qing, Remarks for the Celebration of the Life of Robert L. Bernstein, July 3, 2019 (EN, CH)