HONG KONG, June 9 -- Huge protest crowds thronged Hong Kong on Sunday as anger swells over plans to allow extradition to China, a proposal that has sparked the biggest public backlash against the city's pro-Beijing leadership in years. Tens of thousands of people marched in blazing summer heat through the cramped streets of the financial hub's main island in a noisy, colorful demonstration calling on the government to scrap its planned extradition law. The city's pro-Beijing leaders are pushing a bill through the legislature that would allow extraditions to any jurisdiction with which it does not already have a treaty -- including mainland China for the first time. Coffee shop owner Marco Ng said he was closing his store to join the march. "Our city matters more than our business," the 26-year-old told AFP. "If we don't speak out, then there's no way that the government will listen to our concerns." "The people's voices are not being heard," added 18-year-old student Ivan Wong. "This bill will not just affect Hong Kong's reputation as an international finance center, but also our judicial system. That has an impact on my future." The proposed law has sparked an opposition that unites a wide demographic, setting off the largest demonstrations since 2014 pro-democracy protests brought parts of the city to a standstill for two months. Groundswell of opposition In recent weeks lawyers have held sombre marches dressed in black, anonymous senior judges have given critical media interviews and the city's two main legal groups -- the Law Society and the Bar Association -- have urged a rethink. Business figures are also rattled with multiple chambers of commerce and commercial groups expressing alarm, adding to criticism from the United States, Canada, former colonial power Britain and many European governments. Online petitions have been gathered by groups as diverse as stay-at-home mums, students, nurses and horse racing fans. Hong Kong's leaders, who are not popularly elected, say the law is needed to plug loopholes and stop the city being a bolt hole for mainland fugitives. They say dissidents and critics will not be extradited and have urged quick passage of the bill in order to extradite a Hong Kong man who is wanted in Taiwan for murdering his girlfriend. But critics fear the law would entangle people in China's opaque and politicized court system and say the government is using the Taiwan case as a Trojan Horse. The proposed law has been fast-tracked through the city's legislature which is dominated by pro-Beijing members and on Wednesday it will receive its second reading. The government says it plans to have the law on the statute book by late July. Previous sessions in parliament have descended into chaos with rival lawmakers scuffling. Sunday's march was seen by organizers as an attempt to showcase how wide the opposition to the bill is ahead of the second reading.
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