2019–2020 Hong Kong protests

The 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests began as demonstrations against a bill that would have allowed suspects to be extradited to mainland China. Huge marches took place in June 2019, with organizers claiming around two million participants. Chief Executive Carrie Lam suspended and later formally withdrew the bill, but the movement broadened into five demands, including an independent inquiry into police conduct and universal suffrage. The protests became increasingly confrontational, with clashes with police, the occupation of the Legislative Council building on 1 July 2019 and a prolonged siege at the Polytechnic University in November. Pro-democracy candidates won a landslide in the district council elections that month. The protests declined with the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2020 Beijing imposed a National Security Law that led to arrests and curbs on public dissent.

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