This is a list of domestic and international reactions to the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests.
Local responses Government After some in Hong Kong, Taiwan and several foreign envoys voiced concerns about the bill and before the protests, Carrie Lam had insisted that the bill would be "beneficial", as it could "protect Hong Kong's public safety, and fulfil Hong Kong's international duty". Lam accused pan-democrats in the Legislative Council of "talking trash" in their opposition. Secretary John Lee had said the legal sector did not really understand the bill, and some had not read the bill before protesting. Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung said that the turnout rate in the April protest is not a key determining factor for the government to consider and added that fixing the loopholes in the existing extradition law was necessary.
The government maintained its hardline approach after the 9 June protest which attracted one million people. Carrie Lam continued to push for the bill's second reading on 12 June despite huge opposition and continued to defend the bill, saying that the government was "duty-bound" to do so. Following the 12 June conflict, both Police Commissioner Stephen Lo and Lam characterised the conflict as a "riot", which angered protesters, who then demanded the government retract the term. The police later backed down on the claim, saying that among the protesters, only five of them rioted. The CHRF disagreed and maintained the position that none of them rioted. The demand urging the government to retract the riot categorisation has since been included in the protesters' list of demands.
On 15 June, Lam suspended the bill, but insisted that the rationale for the amendment was sound and that she would do more work in explaining the bill. She refused to apologise or resign for forcing the bill through the Legislative Council, which led to subsequent violent conflicts and created rifts among Hong Kong people. However, following the huge protest on the next day, she "sincerely" apologised to the public, but maintained that she would not resign or withdraw the bill, as she wished to continue leading the government. The former president of the Legislative Council, Andrew Wong Wang-fat, criticised her use of the term "suspension", as the term does not exist in LegCo's Rules of Procedure.
During the 1 July celebration of the 22nd anniversary of the establishment of HKSAR, Lam declared that she would reach out to young people and meet with individuals from all walks of life to listen to their demands. However, when the protesters stormed the Legislative Council Complex that day, she refused to meet the protesters and held a press conference at 4 am on 2 July condemning the protesters' "use of extreme violence" and refusing to respond to questions that concerned the recent suicides that had been associated with her promotion of the bill. Her reaction drew criticisms from Hong Kong Free Press, who accused her of caring more about "shards of glass being broken than the lives of several citizens in Hong Kong". Following the protest, Carrie Lam invited representatives from public universities to attend a closed-door meeting, however the representatives rejected such request, calling her "insincere" and the invitation a "public relations act". They insisted that the meeting must be held publicly, as they did not represent all the protesters in the movement.
On 9 July, Carrie Lam declared that "the bill [was] dead" and that previous attempts to amend the law had failed completely. She gave assurances that the government had ceased any work to amend the bill but stopped short of withdrawing it. She also rejected setting up an independent commission to investigate the police conduct during the protests, saying that the existing mechanism, the Independent Police Complaints Council, would suffice. While pro-Beijing lawmakers agreed and claimed it was the time for Hong Kong people to "move on", opposition called Lam "insincere" and questioned her reluctance to formally withdraw the bill using the appropriate term. In the Cantonese version, she used the term "壽終正寢", which means "dying a peaceful death", to describe the bill amendment. However, some members of the public were sceptical about her usage of the term as it was ambiguous and accused her of playing a "translation trick".
At a meeting with the press after the 21 July protest, where protesters defaced the national emblem and mobs attacked commuters inside Yuen Long station, Lam denounced both the protesters and the white-clad group of attackers. She condemned the protesters who had defaced the national emblem for hurting the one country, two systems principle and national pride. When questioned on a government statement that the questioner regarded as a "mild description" of the Yuen Long attack, Lam said that the government had "not [been] in possession of [facts regarding] all the actual situation on the ground". When asked about whether the safety of citizens was more important than the defacing of the national emblem, Lam responded by saying that ensuring public safety was important, but she believed that citizens will agree that "it is important and maybe even more important that the 'one country, two systems' principle can continue to be successfully implemented".
On 6 August, following a citywide general strike and intense conflicts in various neighbourhoods in Hong Kong, Carrie Lam warned that the protesters were dragging Hong Kong to a "point of no return", and "gambling with the lives of 7 million people". She suggested that no concession would be made and that the protests no longer concerned the extradition bill or her poor governance, and were instead about challenging China's sovereignty and damaging "one country, two systems", seeing that protesters had chanted the slogan "liberate Hong Kong, the revolution of our times". Lam also announced that the Force would hold daily press conferences. On 9 August, when describing the protesters, she said that a "small minority of people... [don't] mind destroying Hong Kong" and that they had "no stake in society". Lam added that her cabinet would begin focusing on improving the city's economy and preparing measures to help the businesses in Hong Kong, while warning of an upcoming economic downturn.
Following a rally that was attended by more than 1.7 million people, Carrie Lam announced that she would create platforms for dialogue but continued to reject the five core demands. She also invited politicians including Henry Tang, Anthony Cheung, university principals including Stephen Cheung, Roland Chin, professor Yuen Kwok-yung and more to help build the platform, however, lawmaker Kenneth Leung suggested that protesters and academics were sceptical of this platform because they felt that whoever was building the platform may not be representative, and that protesters had articulated the five core demands clearly already.
On 2 September, Reuters received a leaked audio recording in which Carrie Lam admitted that she had "very limited" room to manoeuvre between the Central People's Government and Hong Kong, and that she would quit if she had a choice. The next day she told the media that she had never tendered her resignation.
On 4 September, Carrie Lam announced that she would formally withdraw the extradition bill, and introduce measures such as bringing new members to the Independent Police Complaints Council, engaging in dialogue at a community level and inviting academics to evaluate the deep-rooted problems of Hong Kong. However, protesters and democrats had previously expressed that a partial concession would not be accepted and affirmed that all the five core demands must be answered. Lam's concession was also criticised as "too little, too late". After withdrawing the bill, Lam added that "stern law enforcement" would be used to stop the protesters.
Pro-government parties The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU) supported Carrie Lam's amendment of the bill before the mass protests broke out. After Lam announced the suspension of the bill, the views of many pro-government lawmakers U-turned. Starry Lee, the leader of the DAB, claimed that her party would not oppose the withdrawal of the bill and distanced itself from Ann Chiang, who claimed that the government could revive the bill after the summer. Lee disagreed with setting up an independent commission to investigate police behaviour, as she felt that it would "dampen their morale". Felix Chung, a lawmaker from Liberal Party, supported the withdrawal of the bill, though he felt that an independent commission should be set up to investigate the whole incident. The Chief Executive's Office held a private meeting with pro-government lawmakers explaining the decision to suspend the bill, though some lawmakers, including the HKFTU's Alice Mak, were said to have vented their anger toward Lam, as her decision may harm their chances in the upcoming elections. Abraham Shek supported the formation of an independent commission, thinking the problem could not be resolved through positive economic changes. He said that "their five demands did not mention that they want a house. The five demands of young people are that they want justice, fairness and transparency."
As protests continued to escalate, pro-Beijing lawmakers have condemned the use of violence by protesters, including breaking into the LegCo Complex and using petrol bombs and unidentified liquids against the police. They have maintained their support for the Hong Kong Police Force and have held various counter-demonstrations to support the police. On 17 August, a pro-government rally, organised by the Safeguard Hong Kong Alliance, occurred in Tamar Park. Organisers said 476,000 people, including pro-government politicians and business leaders, joined the demonstration, though police stated only 108,000 attended.
Members of the Executive Council Ip Kwok-him and Regina Ip alleged that there was a "mastermind" behind the protests but could not provide substantial evidence to support their claim. Fanny Law claimed that some young females had been offering "free sex" services to the hardline protesters without providing any evidence. Her claim was condemned as spreading fake news with malice.
Camp supporting protests
The pro-democratic parties played a supporting role in the protests, and have opposed the amendment of the bill, criticising the Police Force for its alleged misconduct. Many lawmakers, such as Democratic Party's Roy Kwong, assisted the protesters in various scenarios. The Civic Party criticised the government for not responding to the protesters and described the storming of the LegCo as the "outburst of people's grievances". Responding to the escalation of the protests seen in mid-August at the airport, the convenor of the pro-democratic lawmakers, Claudia Mo, asserted that her group of lawmakers would not split with the protesters while disagreeing with some of their actions. Fernando Cheung warned that Hong Kong was slowly becoming a police state with increasing violence used by the police.
The incidents on both 21 July and 31 August were likened to terrorist attacks by some pro-democrats. Pro-democrats also criticised the arrests of several lawmakers before the 31 August protest, saying that such arrests were an attempt by the police to suppress the movement and warned that the police would further "fuel greater anger". The pan-democratic camp also condemned the violence directed at its protests' organisers, lawmakers and election candidates. Lo Kin-hei has accused the pro-Beijing camp and its supporters of committing the "most brutal physical violent acts" throughout the protests.