It was 100% just a pretext for riots that were planned well in advance (they were basically a continuation of the 2014 Umbrella Movement). They knew protesting extradition laws to the sinister mainland were an easy cause to spin in the West, which was vital. Conveniently left out were the part about the murderer and that extradition for political crimes was explicitly barred.
Funny part is - all of this is just on Wikipedia in fairly clear language, and you can rationalize arguments for both sides of the debate about this law with even the most cursory analysis. Seeing the blatant CHINA BAD propaganda and the cynical exploitation of these actions for Western imperialist ends changed me from relatively neutral on the matter to pretty Chinapilled.
It was 100% just a pretext for riots that were planned well in advance (they were basically a continuation of the 2014 Umbrella Movement). They knew protesting extradition laws to the sinister mainland were an easy cause to spin in the West, which was vital. Conveniently left out were the part about the murderer and that extradition for political crimes was explicitly barred.
Funny part is - all of this is just on Wikipedia in fairly clear language, and you can rationalize arguments for both sides of the debate about this law with even the most cursory analysis. Seeing the blatant CHINA BAD propaganda and the cynical exploitation of these actions for Western imperialist ends changed me from relatively neutral on the matter to pretty Chinapilled.