(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong's government rebuked lawmakers after a committee hearing on a controversial extradition law ended up in an unprecedented brawl and injuries on Saturday.
The legislative council suffered disruptions as two opposing camps clashed during a meeting on the bill. Lawmakers yelled, shoved and climbed over each other, according to video footage of the melee. At least one lawmaker left in an ambulance after sustaining an injury, the South China Morning Post said.
Hong Kong's opposition coalition had pledged to step up their effort to block the government's plan to allow extraditions to mainland China. The controversial proposal, which would also ease extraditions to Taiwan and Macau, could open the door to Hong Kong citizens and foreign residents being prosecuted on the mainland. As many as 130,000 people took to the streets to protest against the bill in April.
“We sincerely wish that LegCo members could resume rational discussion with mutual respect for each other so as to enable LegCo to restore its normal operation and scrutinize legislative proposals in a pragmatic manner,” the government said in a statement on Saturday. “We are also gravely concerned that if this situation continued, it would have an adverse impact on the scrutiny of the bill in LegCo.”
The legislative council's committee on the bill will gather on May 14 where they will elect a chairman and meet with the government, according to a separate statement.
To contact the reporter on this story: Denise Wee in Hong Kong at dwee10@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Robert Fenner
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