This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

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.

But one of her senior advisers, an influential pro-Beijing politician, said on Friday the bill would have to be delayed, while a senior Chinese diplomat attempted to distance Beijing from the law.

'Beijing's puppet': Carrie Lam faces reckoning in Hong Kong Read more

Bernard Chan, a top aide to Lam, admitted he had underestimated the opposition of the business community to the new law. “I think it is impossible to discuss [it] under such confrontation. It would be very difficult,” Chan told RTHK radio. “At the very least we should not escalate the antagonism.”

Michael Tien, a pro-Beijing legislator, also called for a delay in a long Facebook post in which he said the “bloody conflict” of recent days had left him “heartbroken”.

“I hope the government will delay the discussions of the bill at the Legislative Council,” he said, adding that a delay should be seen as responsible politics rather than a sign of caving in to pressure.

Lam has not made any statements since Wednesday’s crackdown on protesters. Another opposition march has been called for Sunday.

The legislation was ostensibly proposed to allow the extradition to Taiwan of a Hong Kong man accused of murdering his girlfriend on the self-governing island. Lam says she has promised the woman’s family justice.

But the bill’s many critics say it is a dangerously open-ended piece of legislation that will destroy the foundations of Hong Kong society by allowing China to target political enemies and try them in China’s opaque courts, where the conviction rate is as high as 99%.

Quick guide What are the Hong Kong protests about? Show Hide Why are people protesting? The protests were triggered by a controversial bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, where the Communist party controls the courts, but have since evolved into a broader pro-democracy movement. Public anger – fuelled by the aggressive tactics used by the police against demonstrators – has collided with years of frustration over worsening inequality and the cost of living in one of the world's most expensive, densely populated cities. The protest movement was given fresh impetus on 21 July when gangs of men attacked protesters and commuters at a mass transit station – while authorities seemingly did little to intervene. Underlying the movement is a push for full democracy in the city, whose leader is chosen by a committee dominated by a pro-Beijing establishment rather than by direct elections.

Protesters have vowed to keep their movement going until their core demands are met, such as the resignation of the city’s leader, Carrie Lam, an independent inquiry into police tactics, an amnesty for those arrested and a permanent withdrawal of the bill. Lam announced on 4 September that she was withdrawing the bill. Why were people so angry about the extradition bill? Beijing’s influence over Hong Kong has grown in recent years, as activists have been jailed and pro-democracy lawmakers disqualified from running or holding office. Independent booksellers have disappeared from the city, before reappearing in mainland China facing charges. Under the terms of the agreement by which the former British colony was returned to Chinese control in 1997, the semi-autonomous region was meant to maintain a “high degree of autonomy” through an independent judiciary, a free press and an open market economy, a framework known as “one country, two systems”. The extradition bill was seen as an attempt to undermine this and to give Beijing the ability to try pro-democracy activists under the judicial system of the mainland. How have the authorities responded? Beijing has issued increasingly shrill condemnations but has left it to the city's semi-autonomous government to deal with the situation. Meanwhile police have violently clashed directly with protesters, repeatedly firing teargas and rubber bullets. Beijing has ramped up its accusations that foreign countries are “fanning the fire” of unrest in the city. China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi has ordered the US to “immediately stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs in any form”. Lily Kuo and Verna Yu in Hong Kong

The end of a judicial “firewall” around the city would put businesspeople as well as dissidents at risk, and the plan has caused widespread unease inside Hong Kong. There have even been rare strikes to support protesters in the street.

Taiwan has expressed worries that the law undermines its own sovereignty and has pledged not to use it. That effectively removes Lam’s main justification for passing the legislation, which critics say was always really aimed at satisfying Beijing.

In a sign that Chinese authorities may now also be concerned about the growth of public opposition in Hong Kong, China’s ambassador to the UK attempted to distance his government from the law.

He said in an interview that the bill had not been introduced at China’s request, although he stopped short of calling on Lam to drop the legislation.

“[The] Beijing central government gave no instruction, no order about making [the] amendment,” Liu Xiaoming told the BBC.. “This amendment was initiated by the Hong Kong government, it was prompted by a murder case in Taiwan.”

A group claimed to be organising grassroots support for the extradition law abruptly cancelled plans for a media briefing and march on Sunday, RTHK reported.

Safeguard HK claims it has more than 900,000 signatures on a petition backing the law, but said it would no longer organise a march “to avoid possible conflicts”. Critics say the number of signatures on the petition has been artificially boosted.

Not all support for the legislation has evaporated. Regina Ip, a hardline politician and former security bureau chief, was among those insisting the government should press ahead.

Hong Kong activists warn of violence if protests are ignored Read more

Opposition protesters said it was far too early to claim victory. “I’m not sure [Chan and Tien] are concerned about the public demonstrations,” said a student who asked to be named only as Mandy. “They are just worried about their own interests and now they think those may be under threat.”

Hundreds of people joined a “mothers against extradition” demonstration near the city centre on Friday, a show of commitment as some of the bill’s backers waver.

“We still have hope,” Mandy said of efforts to halt the bill. “If we keep faith, it may still happen.”