Hong Kong protesters to draw attention of G20 leaders as China says it won’t discuss it in the summit

Protesters in Hong Kong plan demonstrations to draw the attention of the leaders attending the G-20 summit later this week. The protesters on Monday blocked the entrance of government office building.

Around 100 demonstrators blocked the entryway and lobby of the Inland Tower, a skyscraper in the Wan Chai district in the city centre.

One of the main group of demonstrators announced that they would plan a big protest in order to draw the attention of the world leaders who are set to attend the G-20 summit in Japan.

This comes after China said that they would not allow the G-20 nations to discuss the Hong Kong issue. Assistant foreign minister Zhang Jun said that G20 will not be discussing the Hong Kong issue. He also said that the matters within Hong Kong are purely internal affairs for China and no international nation is allowed to interfere with these matters.

However, leaders of the Civil Human Rights Front still hope that the world leaders meeting for the G20 Summit taking place in Osaka will become aware of the protester’s concerns regarding Hong Kong’s legal autonomy being weakened by mainland China.

The protesters' ire is directed at Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who first proposed and later shelved the contentious bill which would make it easier to extradite suspects to mainland China.

Protesters want the bill to be withdrawn altogether, and everyone detained during the demonstrations to be freed. At least 72 people aged between 15 and 66 were injured in the clashes, including two men who were in a critical condition and 21 police officers.

Many Hong Kong citizens believe the bill would erode the territory's judicial independence from Beijing and see it as a sign of the Chinese government's efforts to undermine the special freedoms enjoyed in the former British colony.

The bill would expand the scope of criminal suspect transfers to include mainland China, Taiwan and Macau.

Thousands of people have filled the streets and sidewalks in recent weeks to oppose the legislation seen as increasing Beijing's control and police treatment of the protesters.

Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who has apologised over the controversy but has refused calls for her resignation said the legislation was needed to ensure criminals would not use the territory to evade capture and to meet international standards such as rules against money laundering.

(With inputs from Associated Press and The Guardian)