Hong Kong protests over China extradition bill

Protesters in Hong Kong have spent days demonstrating against a proposed extradition law.

Here's what you need to know about the bill:

Prominent Chinese artist Ai Weiwei said he totally opposes the controversial Hong Kong extradition bill and said he has no confidence in Hong Kong’s government.

 "We have seen the Hong Kong people, young people mostly defending their rights. But this has to happen because no body trusts China’s judicial system," he said.

About the bill: The proposed law would allow Hong Kong to extradite fugitives to territories where it doesn't have formal extradition deals, including mainland China. Opponents of the bill say it could mean democracy activists, journalists and foreign business owners could be surrendered to mainland China.

Ai criticized the Hong Kong government, saying it has sided with the Chinese government. Here's how he put it: 

Protesters rallying against Hong Kong's controversial extradition bill have been cleared from the Legislative Council building area — but thousands remain on the surrounding roads.

In front of City Hall, a large number of protesters are attempting to reinforce their improvised barrier across Harcourt Road.

In front of Pacific Place on Queensway, lines of police are holding the road in stages, while a couple thousand protesters gather in front of barricades.

CNN's James Griffiths is on the ground. He says protests have stalled somewhat on Cotton Tree Drive and Queensway heading towards Central: Both groups of protesters have been fairly stationary for at least 30 mins.

CNN's Julia Hollingsworth, who is also on the ground, says that though the number of protesters may have dropped from earlier in the day, there are still thousands spread across Admiralty and Central districts.

People are moving towards Central, with a much bigger crowd there at 8 p.m. local time than a few hours before.

Suki Ma, a 27-year-old building surveyor, said she wasn’t surprised the police used force, although she was quite angry.

Some background: Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters in Hong Kong on Wednesday, hours after tens of thousands of mostly young people surrounded the city's government headquarters. They're rallying against a controversial bill that would allow fugitives to be extradited to China. Carrie Lam, the leader of Hong Kong, has defended the bill.

Ma said she will keep fighting until the end, as she believes this will be Hong Kong’s last protest, although she doesn’t plan to stay the night as it may be too dangerous.

“The Chinese government want to take our freedom,” she said. “We have freedom when we are born. After 1997 (when Hong Kong was handed back to China by the British), it was piece by piece removed from us.”

She didn’t believe the protests would ultimately change anything, but she came out anyway.

“We cant change the final ending. It will still be the same,” she said, referring to how Hong Kong would become completely part of China in the next few decades.

Hong Kong Pro-democracy lawmakers Claudia Mo and Roy Kwong held a press conference earlier today expressing solidarity with protesters and calling for Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam to resign.

“Carrie Lam, have you gone crazy? You are now treating Hong Kongers as your enemy,” Kwong said during the presser. “You are declaring war on our generation. It is clear and simple ... You said that if the mainstream opinion believed you were not fit to be the Chief Executive you would resign. Please fulfill your election promises.”  

A spokesman for Hong Kong's Hospital Authority said that 22 people had been injured in the protests on Wednesday, as of 6 p.m. local time.

He said there had been 16 men and 6 women injured, some of whom were still undergoing treatment while others were stable.

Separately a spokesman for the Information Services Department said 10 of the injured were stable, and six had already been discharged. The condition of six others was "unknown."

So far, there have been no fatalities reported from Wednesday's divisive protests.

The health authority spokesman said he didn't know how badly the injured had been hurt or whether they were predominantly police or protesters.

Currently they are located at two hospitals in central Hong Kong -- the Queen Mary and the Ruttonjee.

On the same day that protestors took to the streets of Hong Kong and a second reading of the Hong Kong bill was stalled, Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, said it is "undeniable that this law is controversial."

In an interview with Hong Kong's TVB, Lam conceded that "whether to set up this law or not for the good of Hong Kong, our view is like this: It is undeniable the law is controversial, allowing more explanations and discussions will be helpful, but it will not eliminate worries and controversies concerning the law completely."

When asked about the protests, Lam said:

"They say I sold out Hong Kong, how could I?" she added. "I am born here and I live here with everyone I have sacrificed myself to Hong Kong."

It's 8 p.m. local time in Hong Kong, where protesters have been rallying all day against a controversial extradition bill.

Here's what you need to know about the protests:

Images from CNN's Rusty Foulkes show Hong Kong police officers with their riot gear resting in the Legislative Council building.

Some 5,000 police officers were deployed to control the protesters today.