SEAN STARRS: Well, so I mean, they're protesting erosion of their basic freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and so on, as you mention. But you know, the immediate rationale for this extradition law is in reference to Taiwan. So I mean, Hong Kong has extradition agreements with about 20 countries, but not with Taiwan or mainland China. So a Hong Konger, Tong Kai Chan, admitted to killing his girlfriend, his pregnant girlfriend, in Taiwan, and then he escaped back to Hong Kong. And so the immediate rationale for this bill is to allow Taiwan to extradite Chan. But actually Taiwan has said that they don't want to extradite Chan, and president Tsai Ing Wen of Taiwan yesterday, Monday, said that this extradition bill represent means that we should not have one country, two systems in Taiwan. So they're using this actually to harden their pro-independence sentiments in Taiwan.

So obviously this is about Beijing's increasing encroachment on Hong Kong's basic freedoms, which is supposed to be enshrined in the the Basic Law until 2047.