A 21-year-old student has died after falling from a Sheung Shui apartment building on Saturday afternoon. A message criticising the Hong Kong government’s extradition bill was left at the scene and on the woman’s Instagram profile.
Police told HKFP that they responded to a call at 3:55pm at Ka Fuk Estate in Sheung Shui. The student, surnamed Lo, was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Initial investigation revealed that she fell down from a staircase at Fuk Tai House and the case has no suspicious elements,” a police spokesperson told HKFP.
According to Apple Daily, a message was left on the walls of the building’s 24th floor reading: “I hope to exchange my life to fulfil the wishes of 2 million… Please keep on persisting.”
If you are experiencing negative feelings, please call: The Samaritans 2896 0000 (24-hour, multilingual), Suicide Prevention Centre 2382 0000 or the Social Welfare Department 2343 2255. The Hong Kong Society of Counselling and Psychology provides a WhatsApp hotline in English and Chinese: 6218 1084. See also: HKFP’s comprehensive guide to mental health services in Hong Kong
The message, written in red and addressed to Hongkongers, read: “Even though we have been resisting for a long time, we can never forget our beliefs and must keep persisting… We strongly demand the full withdrawal of the [extradition] bill, the retraction of the ‘riot’ label, the release of students and protesters, the resignation of [Chief Executive] Carrie Lam, and punishment of the police.”
A number of people arrived to place flowers at the scene on Saturday evening.
On June 15, a 35-year-old man protesting the extradition law died after he fell from a building in Admiralty. In the weeks that followed, Hongkongers left tributes to the man, surnamed Leung, at the scene of the incident and near the legislature.
The city has been rocked by a series of protests over legal amendments proposed in February, which would allow the city to handle case-by-case extradition requests from jurisdictions with no prior agreements – most notably, China. The legal amendments would enable the chief executive and local courts to handle extradition requests without legislative oversight, though critics from across sectors have raised concerns over the risk of residents being extradited to the mainland, which lacks human rights protections. The bill was suspended on June 15, but not withdrawn.
On Saturday evening, netizens circulated pictures reading “let’s fight together, leave no person behind” and “2 million and two,” in reference to the two people who died.
