Huge protesting crowd against the extradition bill paralyzed a large part of Hong Kong Island on June 9 2019. Photo from inmediahk.net Hundreds of thousands of people in Hong Kong took to the streets on Sunday, 9 June 2019, to stop the government from passing amendments to the existing extradition laws – the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance. The rally started at 2:30 p.m. and it quickly paralyzed a large part of Hong Kong island. Anna Pearce recorded the crowd near Victoria Park, the starting place of the rally: No to China extradition.. incredible mass protest turnout in Hong Kong #occupyhk #umbrellarevolution #hongkong #timelapse pic.twitter.com/DmE643iKVx — Anna Pearce (@stilltalkin) June 9, 2019 Streets flooded with protesters The organizer of the rally, Civil Human Rights Front, estimated that there were more than a million protesters in the rally as the scale of the protest was larger than the anti-national security law mobilization on 1 July 2003. But the police said there were about 240,000 in the streets during the peak of the rally. As South China Morning Post reporter Jeffie Lam put it, Hongkongers made history today: #hongkongers are making history today. All lanes of the Hennessy Road – including those which police refused to open before – are flooded by protesters against the #extraditionbill @SCMPNews pic.twitter.com/UTr2ui7Fix — Jeffie Lam (@jeffielam) June 9, 2019 Protesters said the proposed amendments would make it easier for mainland China to cause the arrest of critics, dissidents, and even journalists in Hong Kong. They were chanting “no evil law” and calling for the city's chief executive Carrie Lam to step down. Protester placard: No China extradition; Liar Carrie Lam, step down. Image via inmediahk.net CC: AT-NC A social worker told reporter from inmediahk.net that she rallied to defend the people working in the social work sector because under China's judicial system, those who tried to bring positive change in society would be arrested. Another student protester believes that once the amendment is passed, the city will cease to exist as the constitutional principle of “One Country Two Systems” would come to an end. Today, Hongkonger are telling the world we oppose the Extradition Bill! #noevillaw #NoChinaExtradition pic.twitter.com/fNvaBjRhRm — Denise Ho (HOCC) (@hoccgoomusic) June 9, 2019 There have been several mass protests against the extradition bill. On 30 March, about 12,000 rallied from Wanchai to Admiralty right before the government presented the amendment bill to the legislature. One month later on 28 April, about 130,000 took to the streets demanding the scrapping of the bill. The series protests has caught the world's attention. Many are now monitoring if the city's Chief Executive Carrie Lam would withdraw the controversial bill which is scheduled for second reading in the legislative chamber this week. The amendments were first proposed by the Hong Kong government in February to provide further legal grounds for the Chief Executive and local courts to handle case-by-case extradition requests from jurisdictions with no prior agreements, specifically Taiwan and China. By citing the murder case of a pregnant woman in Taiwan, the government claimed that amending the extradition laws was meant to address ‘legal loophole’ that allow fugitives to escape punishment. However, legal experts pointed out that the so-called ‘loophole’ was in reality a firewall to prevent crime suspects from being handed over to mainland China where there is no fair trial. Human rights defenders, journalists, NGO workers and social workers at risk Various sectors have warned that if extradition requests are processed without legislative oversight, the amendments would provide a legal basis for mainland Chinese authorities to arrest political dissents. This concern was stated in an open letter jointly signed by over 70 non-government organizations: Given the Chinese judiciary’s lack of independence, and other procedural shortcomings that often result in unfair trials, we are worried that the proposed changes will put at risk anyone in the territory of Hong Kong who has carried out work related to the Mainland, including human rights defenders, journalists, NGO workers and social workers, even if the person was outside the Mainland when the ostensible crime was committed. We are calling on the Hong Kong government to immediately withdraw the bill… Instead of addressing the concerns raised by the petitioners, the Beijing Liaison Office met representatives of the local business sector and demanded them to back the bill.