Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam denies trying to resign to end protests

Tim Baker3 September 2019

Hong Kong’s embattled leader Carrie Lam has insisted she had never considered tendering her resignation to China to end anti-government protests on the street.

It came after the chief executive was heard in a leaked recording saying she should quit to ease the unrest.

Asked repeatedly at a news briefing about reports of the recording, Ms Lam said: “I have never tendered a resignation… I have never even contemplated to discuss a resignation.”

She was heard on the secret tapes saying “If I have a choice, the first thing is to quit”.

Unrest has been growing on the streets of Hong Kong since the end of April due to an attempt to bring a new law allowing extradition to China.

Police have been criticised for the use of heavy handed tactics including pointing pistols at crowds, firing bean bags at journalists and beating people trapped on trains.

Hong Kong Protests In Pictures

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Despite leaders of the demonstrations trying to keep the protests peaceful, police have had petrol bombs thrown at them and Government buildings have been defaced with graffiti.

Protestors have accused the police of planting undercover officers in the protests to incite violence so the police take more extreme measures.

Hong Kongers have seen Ms Lam’s support of the extradition bill - known as “ELAB” - as a sign that she is working under the Chinese Government.

On the leaked tape, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive can be heard shouldering the blame for the unrest.

Ms Lam said: “This is not something instructed, coerced by the central government.

“If I have a choice, the first thing is to quit, having made a deep apology.

Members of public clean Hong Kong metro station - In pictures

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"We were not sensitive enough to feel and grasp [the] huge degree of fear and anxiety amongst people of Hong Kong vis-à-vis the mainland of China.

"For a chief executive to have caused this huge havoc to Hong Kong is unforgivable."

But Ms Lam came out to defend her position and deny she tried to step down.

She said: “The choice of not resigning is my own choice.

“But if you want to understand - because in a private session I just attempted to explain that as as an individual - it was an easy choice to leave.

Hong Kong protests - In pictures

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“But I told myself repeatedly in the last three months that I and my team should stay on to help Hong Kong.

“And to help Hong Kong in a very difficult situation, and to serve the people of Hong Kong - that remains my position.”

She did not deny that the tape was a real recording of her.

The Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong has gone through months of turmoil since the end of April following an attempt to introduce the controversial extradition bill.

Using the hashtag #AntiELAB, protests have seen the airport shut down, streets taken over and most recently thousands of school children take to the streets.

The bill caused concern as the Chinese courts work under the central government run by Chinese President Xi Jinping, while in Hong Kong the courts work along a British system and separate from political influence.

Some living in Hong Kong see the ELAB bill as an attempt to erode the “One Country, Two Systems” principle set out in the 1997 handover.

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