Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam insists that controversial extradition bill is dead

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      After more weekend protests, the government of Hong Kong has taken another step to try to quell the outrage of the city's residents.

      Today, the city's chief executive, Carrie Lam, made her strongest statement yet that a controversial extradition bill won't be revived.

      "I have almost immediately put a stop to the amendment exercise," Lam said. "But there are still lingering doubts about the government's sincerity—or worries about whether the government will restart the process in the legislative council.

      "So I reiterate here, there is no such plan," she continued. "The bill is dead."

      Video: Carrie Lam claims the extradition bill is "dead".

      Lam has previously said that the bill would die in 2020. So her declaration that the bill is dead, said in the present tense, could be seen as a change in her position.

      Had it been approved by the Hong Kong Legislative Council, the legislation would have allowed people charged with serious crimes in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan to be extradited to face trial in mainland China.

      That prospect horrified Hong Kong residents, who repeatedly staged large protests to demonstrate their opposition.

      There have been other forms of protest, too.

      In the photo below, a taxi driver waved a pro-China legislator out of his cab, refusing to take her as a passenger.

      In the most recent large demonstration, Hong Kong residents gathered on the Kowloon Peninsula. That's the arrival point for many mainland Chinese who want to go shopping.

      Kowloon became a British colony after the second Opium War. Like Hong Kong, which became a British colony after the first Opium War, it was returned to China in 1997.

      This tactic of protesting in Kowloon, which included holding up signs in simplified Chinese script and chanting in Mandarin, was designed to send a message to those living in other parts of China.

      Meanwhile, South China Morning Post reporter Sum Lok-kei has written that despite Lam's most recent statement, it's unclear whether the bill has been "effectively withdrawn".

      Lam's comment that the bill is dead has also been greeted with skepticism on social media.

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