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A6 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 5 april 2022
Hong Kong leader Lam won’t seek new term after rocky 5 years

By ZEN SOO and a government interpreter.
VINCENT YU Later, Lam strongly backed
Associated Press the national security law
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong initiated by Beijing and
Kong leader Carrie Lam implemented by her gov-
said Monday she wouldn’t ernment that was seen as
seek a second term after eroding the “one country,
a rocky five years marked two systems” framework
by huge protests calling that promised after the
for her resignation, a se- handover from Britain that
curity crackdown that has city residents would re-
quashed dissent and most tain freedoms not found in
recently a COVID-19 wave mainland China, such as a
that overwhelmed the free press and freedom of
health system. expression.
Her successor will be picked The security law and other
in May, with the city’s hard- police and court actions
line security chief during in the years since have
the 2019 protests seen as a virtually erased the city’s
likely choice. pro-democracy move-
“I will complete my five-year ment, with activists and the
term as chief executive on movement’s supporters ei-
the 30th of June this year, ther arrested or jailed. Oth-
and I will also call an end Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam pauses during a news conference in Hong Kong, Monday, ers have fled into exile. Lam
to my 42 years of public ser- April 4, 2022. Associated Press and the central govern-
vice,” Lam said at a news ment in Beijing say their ac-
conference. The 64-year- Her time in office will likely Lam’s popularity sharply tivism, while protesters de- tions have restored stability
old career civil servant said be remembered as a turn- declined over her five-year nounced the police crack- in Hong Kong.
she plans to spend more ing point during which term, particularly over leg- down as excessive and said Hong Kong media have re-
time with her family, which Beijing firmly established islation that would have al- that claims of sedition were ported this week that Chief
is her “sole consideration.” control over the former Brit- lowed criminal suspects to attempts to undermine the Secretary John Lee, the
Speculation had swirled ish colony, which was re- be extradited to mainland pro-democracy cause. city’s No. 2 leader, is likely to
for months about whether turned to China in 1997. For China for trial and her lead- Lam said she came under enter the race to succeed
she would seek another years, the city rocked back ership during the protests great pressure because of Lam. Lee rose through the
term, and she repeatedly and forth between calls for that ensued in 2019. The the extradition bill, “interfer- ranks as a police officer to
declined to comment on more freedom and growing mass demonstrations were ence from foreign forces” become deputy commis-
the possibility. But on Mon- signs of China extending its marked at times by violent and the pandemic. “How- sioner in 2010, and was the
day, she said her decision reach, chipping away at a clashes between police ever, the motivation for me city’s secretary of security
had been conveyed to the promise by the mainland and protesters. Authorities to press on was the very during the 2019 protests.
central government in Bei- government to give Hong in Hong Kong and Beijing staunch support behind me He is known for his support
jing last year and was met Kong the power to govern insisted that overseas forc- by the central authorities,” for the police force during
with “respect and under- itself semi-autonomously for es were fueling the move- she said, according to a si- the protests and his tough
standing.” 50 years. ment, rather than local ac- multaneous translation by stance against protesters.q

Families of Beirut port blast victims

mark 20 months

BEIRUT (AP) — Carrying por- the detonation of hundreds “It is not new because we
traits of their loved ones, of tons of ammonium ni- know that the government
relatives of victims of the trate stored in a port ware- is complicit in the crime so
August 2020 explosion at house for years, apparently it is trying its best to stop
the Port of Beirut marched with the knowledge of se- (investigating) the crime,”
in the Lebanese capital nior politicians and security said Paul Naggar, the fa-
Monday. They marked 20 officials who did nothing ther of the youngest victim
months since the devastat- about it. The explosion killed of the blast, 3-year-old Al-
ing blast killed more than at least 216 people, injured exandra Naggar.
200 people and injured more than 6,500 others and But he hopes that parlia-
thousands. destroyed parts of the city. mentary elections in May Relatives of victims of the August 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion
“We will not forget,” read Twenty months later, near- will make a difference. hold portraits of their loved ones who died in the explosion, as
placards held by some ly everything remains un- “It is the only solution to re- they march during a gathering to mark twenty months since the
blast that killed more than 200 people and injured thousands, in
of the relatives. They ex- known from who ordered move this regime and to downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, April 4, 2022. The Arabic
pressed frustration at the ju- the shipment to why of- bring justice for my daugh- placard reads:”Will not forget.”
dicial investigation that has ficials ignored repeated ters and others,” Naggar Associated Press
been suspended for three warnings of the danger. said.
months amid a deluge of Families of the victims have The bereaved men and in black sat at the foot of a the blast.
legal challenges by politi- been pressing for answers, women marched toward statue of a Lebanese émi- Zeina Noun, 53, lost her
cians seeking to block the accusing political parties of the port holding portraits gré crying in silence. son to the blast. She said
probe. obstructing the local inves- of their lost ones. There, a The families lit candles at the families will continue to
The blast was caused by tigation. group of women dressed 6:07 p.m., the exact time of fight.q