The Pulse：Chaos in Legco Fugitive Offenders Ordinance bills committee: discussion with Paul Tse & Al

Both the Hong Kong and Beijing governments are determined to get legislators to pass the amendment to Hong Kong’s fugitive offender laws. They’ve set a deadline of July to get it done. At the moment pro-government and pan-democratic legislators are deadlocked and unable to start scrutinising the bill. Initially, democrat James To presided over the first two meetings of the bills committee. However, he was unseated by the pro-government camp through a written vote arranged by Legco’s secretariat.

Last Saturday, tussles broke out when both sides held separate meetings to fight for control of the committee. On Tuesday, another scuffle occurred when both sides tried to start their own meetings. Former Legco president Andrew Wong, an expert on Legco’s rules and procedures, has challenged the legality of the secretariat’s involvement and the pro-government lawmakers’ action. On Friday we went to Legco to discuss these matters with legislators Paul Tse and Alvin Yeung.