Hong Kong Leader Carrie Lam Clings to Power After Mass Protest
- Demonstrators want Chief Executive Carrie Lam to resign
- Any leader of the financial hub also must answer to Beijing
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Historic crowds shut down central Hong Kong for a second straight Sunday, calling on embattled leader Carrie Lam to step aside. There’s one problem: Nobody seems quite sure who should replace her.
Many of the hundreds of thousands of protesters who turned out -- organizers put the number at around 2 million people -- said that Lam’s days were numbered even after she “paused” a bill that would for the first time allow extraditions to China. Just before 9 p.m., Lam issued a statement apologizing for causing “substantial controversies and disputes in society” -- though it was accepted by few swarming downtown streets.