Huge Hong Kong rally kicks off as public anger boils

Yahoo – AFP, Jerome Taylor and Elaine Yu, June 16, 2019

Crowds of black-clad protesters were mraching from a park on the main island to
 the city's parliament -- a repeat of a massive rally a week earlier that organisers
said more than a million people attended (AFP Photo/Dale DE LA REY)

Tens of thousands of people rallied in central Hong Kong on Sunday as public anger seethed following unprecedented clashes between protesters and police over an extradition law, despite a climbdown by the city's embattled leader.

Protesters chanted "Scrap the evil law!" as they marched through the streets to pile more pressure on chief executive Carrie Lam, who paused work on the hugely divisive bill Saturday after days of mounting pressure, saying she had misjudged the public mood.

Crowds of black-clad protesters were marching from a park on the main island to the city's parliament -- a repeat of a massive demonstration a week earlier that organisers said more than a million people attended.

Critics fear the Beijing-backed law will tangle-up people in China's notoriously opaque and politicised courts and damage the city's reputation as a safe business hub.

Protesters chanted 'Scrap the evil law!' as they marched through the streets to pile 

more pressure on Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam (AFP Photo/Hector RETAMAL)

"Carrie Lam's response is very insincere. Knowing that the government won't withdraw the bill, I decided to come out today," said protester Terence Shek, 39, who had brought his children on the march.

The city was rocked by the worst political violence since its 1997 handover to China on Wednesday as tens of thousands of protesters were dispersed by riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets.

"You're supposed to protect us not shoot at us" read one banner carried on Sunday, addressing the city's police force, while others marching held photos of police breaking up crowds in Wednesday's clashes.

Lam stopped short of committing to permanently scrap the proposal Saturday and the concession was swiftly rejected by protest leaders, who called on her to resign, permanently shelve the bill and apologise for police tactics.

Hong Kong activist Jimmy Sham likened chief executive Carrie Lam's offer to 

a 'knife' that had been plunged into the city (AFP Photo/HECTOR RETAMAL)

"The extradition bill being suspended only means it can be revived any time Carrie Lam wants," said activist Lee Cheuk-yan.

Nearly 80 people were injured in this week's unrest, including 22 police officers, and one man died late Saturday when he fell from a building where he had been holding an hours-long anti-extradition protest.

He had unfurled a banner saying: "Entirely withdraw China extradition bill. We were not rioting. Released students and the injured".

Huge queues formed outside the high-end Pacific Place mall with flowers and written tributes piling up as demonstrators paid their respects.

Suspending the bill has done little to defuse simmering public anger and protest organisers have called for a city-wide strike Monday as well as Sunday's rally.

Hong Kong has been rocked by the worst political unrest since its handover to 

China (AFP Photo/Anthony WALLACE)

Jimmy Sham, from the main protest group the Civil Human Rights Front, likened Lam's offer to a "knife" that had been plunged into the city.

"Carrie Lam's speech yesterday in no way calmed down public anger," he said.

'Restore calm to the community'

Lam's decision to press ahead with tabling the bill for debate in the legislature on Wednesday -- ignoring the record-breaking crowds three days earlier -- triggered fresh protests, which brought key parts of the city to a standstill and led to violent clashes with police.

Opposition to the bill united an unusually wide cross-section of Hong Kong, from influential legal and business bodies to religious leaders, as well as Western nations.

Mourners place flowers and offer prayers at the site where a protester died

(AFP Photo/Anthony WALLACE)

The protest movement has morphed in recent days from one specifically aimed at scrapping the extradition bill to a wider display of anger at Lam and Beijing over years of sliding freedoms.

A huge banner hanging from the city's Lion Rock mountain on Sunday read "Defend Hong Kong".

Lam had been increasingly isolated in her support for the bill, with even pro-Beijing lawmakers distancing themselves from the extradition proposals in recent days.

The Chinese government said suspending the bill was a good decision to "listen more widely to the views of the community and restore calm to the community as soon as possible".

The police have faced criticism for heavy handed tactices to disperse 

protesters (AFP Photo/HECTOR RETAMAL)

'Keep the heat on'

Critics were also angry that Lam missed repeated opportunities to apologise for what many saw as heavy-handed police tactics.

Police said they had no choice but to use force to meet violent protesters who besieged their lines outside the city's parliament on Wednesday.

But critics -- including legal and rights groups -- say officers used the actions of a tiny group of violent protesters as an excuse to unleash a sweeping crackdown on the predominantly young, peaceful protesters.

"The pro-democracy group will not stop at this point, they want to build on the momentum against Carrie Lam," political analyst Willy Lam told AFP. "They will keep the heat on and ride the momentum."

People pray outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong on the eve of 

Sunday's mass rally (AFP Photo/HECTOR RETAMAL)

Protest leaders have called for police to drop charges against anyone arrested for rioting and other offences linked to Wednesday's clashes.

Activist Lee said opponents feared reprisals by the government and wanted assurances "that our Hong Kong people, our protesters, are not being harassed and politically prosecuted by this government".

Lam has argued that Hong Kong needs to reach an extradition agreement with the mainland, and says safeguards were in place to ensure dissidents or political cases would not be accepted.

Sister of N. Korean leader pays respects Panmunjom meeting

Yahoo – AFP, June 12, 2019

Kim Yo Jong's trip to Panmunjom was the first meeting by senior officials of the
two Koreas in months (AFP Photo/JORGE SILVA)

The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday delivered a condolence message for former South Korean first lady Lee He-ho, the first high-level contact between the two countries in months.

Kim Yo Jong, who holds a powerful position in the reclusive state, delivered the message, and flowers, on her brother's behalf at a meeting with South Korean officials at Panmunjom in the demilitarised zone.

The meeting lasted about 15 minutes, said Chung Eui-yong, South Korea's top national security advisor.

"Kim commented we should continue co-operation in honour of Lee's efforts for inter-Korean harmony," he said, according to broadcaster YTN.

Lee, a lifelong companion of late president Kim Dae-jung, died on Monday aged 96.

Kim was known for his "sunshine policy" of engagement with North Korea, and Pyongyang also sent a delegation to Seoul to pay respects when he died in 2009.

Wednesday's meeting was the first by senior officials since the breakdown of a second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in Vietnam in February.

Pyongyang has called on Seoul to implement joint economic projects agreed last year at inter-Korean summits, but sanctions imposed on the North over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes have blocked progress.

India court orders release of jailed journalist

Yahoo – AFP, June 11, 2019

India's supreme court said its order to release the freelance journalist did not
reflect approval of his social media posts (AFP Photo/Sajjad HUSSAIN)

A journalist jailed for making derogatory comments on social media against a chief minister with the ruling-right wing party was ordered released by India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Prashant Kanojia, a freelance journalist, was arrested Saturday after he uploaded and commented on a video of a woman claiming to be in love with Yogi Adityanath, a firebrand Hindu monk who is chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state.

"The judges have directed (the) immediate release of Prashant today," defence lawyer Shadan Farasat told reporters.

Local media reports said the judges had criticised the high-handed manner of Kanojia's arrest, calling it "illegal" and "unconstitutional".

The court however said its order should not be seen as approval of Kanojia's social media posts and that legal proceedings against him would continue according to law.

The head of a local news channel that broadcast the video shared by Kanojia has also been arrested along with one of the editors, for operating without a license.

A fourth person was arrested Monday for allegedly uploading altered images of Adityanath on Facebook.

The Editors Guild of India had slammed Kanojia's arrest, calling the police action "arbitrary" and "an authoritarian misuse of laws".

"The Guild sees it as an effort to intimidate the press, and stifle freedom of expression," it said in a statement on Sunday.

In recent years, laws have frequently been deployed by politicians from all parties seeking to stifle social media criticism.

Last month, a ruling party activist was arrested for posting a meme on opposition West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. She was later released on bail by the Supreme Court.

A journalist in northeastern Manipur state was jailed last year for allegedly criticising the state's BJP chief minister and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Bhutan gays celebrate after homosexuality decriminalized

CNA – AFP, 8 June 2019

Bhutan's LGBT community celebrated Saturday after the tiny Himalayan kingdom's parliament became the world's latest to decriminalise homosexuality.

Bhutan's National Council will vote on Monday to pass the bill following the move
by the lower house of parliament to decriminalise homosexuality AFP/Arun SANKAR

THIMPU: Bhutan's LGBT community celebrated Saturday (Jun 8) after the tiny Himalayan kingdom's parliament became the world's latest to decriminalise homosexuality.

The lower house overwhelmingly voted late Friday to repeal two sections of the 2004 criminal code which made "unnatural sex" illegal.

"A lot of us cried," said Tashi Tsheten of Rainbow Bhutan that represents the country's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

"We are a small and marginalised community and when our rights are discussed in parliament, it makes us extremely happy," Tashi said.

The law had never been used, but Finance Minister Namgay Tshering, who submitted the recommendation to repeal sections 213 and 214 of the penal code, said they had become "a stain" on the country's reputation.

Namgay Tshering said the sections had become redundant since Bhutan became a constitutional monarchy in 2008. "There is a high degree of acceptability of the LGBT community in our society," he said.

The minister added that he was optimistic that the code sections would be definitively scrapped when the upper house in the country of 750,000 people votes on Monday.

Tashi said some ministers had been social workers with contacts in the LGBT community and Prime Minister Lotay Tshering is a surgeon. "So we had lot of hopes in this government."

There is no annual Gay Pride rally or other public display in Bhutan.

And while Tashi said there was a general acceptance of transgenders, especially in rural areas, they still face much discrimination, especially in schools.

"There are lots of barriers and our education system does not understand LGBT," Tashi said, adding that most LGBT youths drop out of school.

Once the bill is passed by the National Council, the upper chamber, it will be sent for royal assent.

Thousands of Hong Kong lawyers march against China extradition plans

Yahoo – AFP, June 6, 2019

Thousands of legal professionals marched on the Central Government Offices in
Hong Kong to protest against a proposed extradition law (AFP Photo/ISAAC LAWRENCE)

Thousands of black-clad Hong Kong lawyers took to the streets Thursday in a silent march against a controversial extradition law proposal, as the city's last colonial governor slammed the plan as "a terrible blow".

The city's pro-Beijing government is pushing a bill through the legislature that would allow extraditions to any jurisdiction with which it doesn't already have a treaty -- including mainland China for the first time.

The proposal has sparked some of the biggest protests the city has seen in recent years as well as criticism from influential legal groups, business associations and western diplomats.

This week has seen escalating criticism from the city's influential legal communities, including the Law Society -- which published a detailed critique of the proposals -- adding to opposition already voiced by the Bar Association and multiple chambers of commerce.

Critics fear the law, if passed, will entangle people in China's opaque and politicised court system.

The lawyers, mostly dressed in black, walked in silence from the Court of Final Appeal to the government headquarters, where they gathered to observe three minutes of silence.

Organisers said around 2,500 to 3,000 people attended the march.

"As you can all see that they come out for one reason and one reason only, because they see there is a threat to the rule of law in Hong Kong," said lawmaker Dennis Kwok, who organised the march.

"This extradition bill, if passed, would do irreparable damage to our legal system, to the rule of law, to the values that we treasure."

Legal professionals have gathered to protest only five times since the former British colony was handed to China.

Pro-democracy heavyweight and lawyer Martin Lee said: "Once the bill becomes law, we can not guarantee the safety of any person living or working in Hong Kong, or even passing by Hong Kong."

Another former lawmaker, Audrey Eu, added: "This amendment is being rushed through with indecent and inexplicable haste. There is absolutely no justification for pushing it through like this."

Earlier, Hong Kong's last British governor, Chris Patten, described the plans to allow extraditions to China as "a terrible blow" to the financial hub's reputation.

"It's a proposal, or a set of proposals, which strike a terrible blow... against the rule of law, against Hong Kong's stability and security, against Hong Kong's position as a great international trading hub," he said in a video statement.

The government has argued the proposal is needed to plug existing loopholes and that the law needs to be passed quickly in order to extradite a Hong Kong man who is wanted in Taiwan for murdering his girlfriend.

But critics fear the Taiwanese case is being used to ram the law through the city's parliament at the behest of Beijing.

Patten described the move as an attempt "to remove the firewall between Hong Kong's rule of law" and China "where there aren't any independent courts, where the courts and the security services and the party's rules... are rolled all together".

#UPDATE A huge peaceful protest in Hong Kong against controversial plans to allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland descended into violence early Monday as police clashed with small pockets of demonstrators outside the city's parliament https://t.co/Jd1HHaHwYF pic.twitter.com/0I1taJTOgO

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 9 juni 2019

South Korea's pride parade marks 20 years in blaze of colour

Yahoo – AFP, Claire LEE, June 1, 2019

Parade organisers say some 70,000 people took part in the event (AFP Photo/Ed JONES)

Seoul (AFP) - Tens of thousands of LGBT South Koreans and their supporters paraded through central Seoul Saturday for the capital's 20th gay rights march, with ruling Democratic Party members taking part for the first time.

The parade, some 70,000 strong according to organisers, made its way through the South Korean capital with participants dancing on open truck beds and waving rainbow flags.

"People who used to be invisible are here to show that they exist," said Jeong Min-hee, a 26-year-old participant.

"It's so much fun, I'm very excited and it feels so good to be in solidarity with others."

South Korea is Asia's fourth biggest economy and a capitalist democracy, but lived through decades of military rule when evangelical Christianity was widespread and framed the communist North as evil.

Christian churches still have enduring political influence in the South, and they are now targeting sexual minorities, activists say.

"The conservative Christians consider both -- communists and sexual minorities -- as deserving to be demonised in South Korean society," said Lim Bo-rah, a senior pastor at an LGBT-friendly church in Seoul.

Homosexuality is not illegal in South Korea but there is currently no legislation 

outlawing discrimination (AFP Photo/Ed JONES)

But changes in society are afoot. Members of the ruling, left-leaning Democratic Party (DPK) participated in the event for the first time this year and CASS, one of the South's largest beer brands, on Friday became the country's first major company to openly support gay rights.

The South Korean President Moon Jae-in -- a former human rights lawyer -- has spoken only vaguely on gay rights. His political rivals and LGBT activists say he is trying not to alienate supporters.

As the front-runner in the presidential race in 2017, Moon said in a television debate that he "opposed" homosexuality in the military.

'We were invisible'

"We decided to participate because we wanted to show that LGBT people and their allies exist even within the ruling party," said Kim Min-seok, one of some 30 DPK members who showed up at the parade, waving the party flag.

"I often felt we were invisible within the DPK -- many members wouldn't even think about the possibility of our existence", Kim said.

Thousands of Christian protesters turned out to protest the event on Saturday 

(AFP Photo/Ed JONES)

The participation of the ruling party's members was announced prior to the event and sparked intense controversy, triggering the spokesperson for the main opposition, conservative party Min Kyung-wook to say the Democrats should "come out" as a "queer" party.

Homosexuality is not illegal in South Korea but there is currently no legislation outlawing discrimination.

It is also the world's only advanced economy to make consensual gay sex between soldiers a crime under military rules.

It is a marked contrast to Taiwan -- which also has Confucian cultural components, a history of dictatorship, and has enjoyed an economic boom in recent decades.

But earlier this month Asia's first gay marriages took place on the island after it legalised the change.

Activists say the difference is religion: South Korea has proven fertile ground for religious groups that offered comfort and salvation that appealed during times of deep uncertainty following the Korean War.

A cross-section of South Korean society attneded the parade (AFP Photo/Ed JONES)

Now more than 20 percent of South Korea's population are Protestant Christians, surveys show, compared to about five percent of Taiwanese.

Thousands of Christian protesters turned out to protest the event on Saturday, holding up signs that read "Repent and come back to Jesus. He loves you."

A cross-section of society were present, including buddhists, Korean-American adoptees, asexuals and parents of sexual minorities.

In previous parades, "young LGBT people would come to us and cry in our arms whenever we gave them free hugs," said Lee Sun-young, who works for Parents and Families of LGBTAIQ people of Korea.

"We always remember them. I hope they know that the world is changing, although slowly."