(Clearwisdom.net) (Central News Agency Reporter Wang Manna reporting from Hong Kong)

[...]

Even though Hong Kong government made some concessions on the national security bill, they failed to win acceptance of the more than 40 organizations that sponsored the large scale march on July 1 against Article 23. Many believe the amendments the Hong Kong government made are not enough to resolve the concerns of Hong Kong people. They ask the Hong Kong government to delay or stop relevant provisions so residents have more time to discuss.

Spokesperson of Human Rights Front said that Hong Kong government failed to seriously consider the demands of the 500,000 Hong Kong residents marching on the streets and forcibly to go for the second reading of the national security bill on July 9. It is totally ignoring Hong Kong people's opinion.

He said if the Hong Kong government insists on passing the security bill, it will only serve to antagonize public's protest. They did not exclude the possibility to initiate an even larger protest to force the Hong Kong government to stop the legislation.

In addition, Hong Kong Reporters Association, Hong Kong Democratic Party and several religious organizations all expressed that they were against the Hong Kong government rushing the second reading of Article 23 legislation on July 9. To express their strong resentment to the government's decision, they called upon their members to go to LegCo to protest on July 9. Hong Kong scholars think that even though Hong Kong government has made three amendments but as people's resentments are so high, plus the central government does not put a date on enacting the security law, if the Hong Kong government ignores 500,000 people's voice and continues to hold the second reading of the article 23, it will only deepen Hong Kong people's resentment. It could result in more social turbulence and even loss of control.

Posting date: 7/7/2003
Original article date: 7/6/2003
Category: News & Media Reports
Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/7/6/53550.html

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