A 21-year-old student has died after falling from a building in Hong Kong on June 29, after leaving an apparent message on the staircase protesting the city’s recent controversial extradition bill, local media reported.
Lo Hiu-yan, a first-year female student studying arts at Education University, left a 91-word message at an upper-floor staircase of Fuk Tai building in Fanling, Hong Kong, calling for the complete withdrawal of the extradition bill, along with other demands urged by millions of Hongkongers.
Over the past few weeks millions of people have taken to the city’s streets to protest a proposed extradition law that would allow people to be transferred to mainland China for trial. Opponents say that given the Chinese regime doesn’t operate under the rule of law, the bill would enable it to seek the extradition of its critics in Hong Kong with impunity.
According to Apple Daily, her message on the wall, written in red and addressed to Hongkongers, read: “Although we have been fighting for a long time, we must not forget our beliefs from the very beginning and must keep persisting.
“[We] strongly demand the complete withdrawal of the [extradition] bill, the retraction of the labeling [of a June 12 demonstration] as a ‘riot,’ the release of [arrested] student demonstrators, the resignation of [Hong Kong leader] Carrie Lam, and the punishment of the police.”
The message ended with the line: “I hope to exchange my life for the fulfillment of two million people’s wishes. Please continue to persevere, you all.”
Lo also posted a picture of her message on the wall to her Instagram page, Apple Daily reported. Police have since covered her written message with a black sheet, the outlet added. Lo was not a resident of the building.
Over a hundred mourners laid flowers and notes at the scene in remembrance of Lo as of the evening of June 29. Students at Education University, where Lo had attended, will hold a mourning ceremony for Lo on June 30.
This is not the first death associated with the protests. On June 15, a 35-year-old man in a yellow raincoat died after unfurling a banner protesting the proposed extradition laws from the side of a shopping mall in Admiralty.
The man, wearing a yellow raincoat, called for the complete withdrawal of the extradition bill and for Hong Kong Leader Carrie Lam to step down. Written on the back of his raincoat was “Carrie Lam Kills Hong Kong.”
Hongkongers mourned the man in the following weeks. Many left tributes to him with flowers and notes at the scene, and some showed up in yellow raincoats in later protests.
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