Hong Kong's Carrie Lam vows to use 'stern law enforcement' to stamp out protests.

Pedro_P

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Leader refuses to resign and backs police handling of protests despite widespread claims of brutality.

Students form a human chain during a protest on Thursday in Hong Kong. Carrie Lam has backed police to handle the protests despite claims of brutality. Photograph: Anthony Kwan/Getty Images
▼  Hong Kong’s embattled leader, Carrie Lam, has vowed to use “stern law enforcement” to stamp out violent protests, a day after she made a dramatic announcement to formally  withdraw an extradition billthat has ignited months of protests.
At a press briefing on Thursday, Lam said the purpose of her decision to formally withdraw the suspended bill was to “zhibao zhiluan”(“put a stop to violence and chaos”) – a phrase often used by mainland Chinese officials when condemning the protests in Hong Kong.
“To step out of the impasse, the most important thing right now is to stop the violence and to sternly enforce the law,” she said. “If there is still violence going on every day, it will affect the city’s operation and people’s everyday lives.”
Lam announced on Wednesday evening in a televised message that her government would formally withdraw a controversial extradition bill that has plunged the territory into its biggest political crisis in decades.
But many ordinary Hong Kong residents and protesters, infuriated by the police’s excessive use of force in the past three months, said what mattered more to them was for the government to investigate police wrongdoing.
During past months, police increasingly used water cannons, teargas, rubber bullets, beanbag rounds and severe beatings to  quell protests, and also chased protesters into residential areas, metro stations and even ferry piers. Protesters have also thrown molotov cocktails at police, and vandalised and set public facilities on fire.
Many interviewed by the Guardian have said the escalating police brutality and (▪ ▪ ▪)

► Please, continue reading this news here: Source