12 June 2019 Hong Kong protest

The 12 June 2019 Hong Kong protest, also known as "612 incident" refers to an incident of intense confrontation between anti-extradition bill protesters and the Hong Kong Police Force. The protest was sparked by the introduction of the Fugitive Offenders amendment bill, which was set to go through second reading on 12 June despite mass opposition. 40,000 protesters gathered outside the Government Headquarters attempted and successfully stalled the second reading of the bill. Police deployed numerous canisters of tear gas, rubber bullets and bean bag rounds to disperse the protesters. The government and the police characterised the protest as a "riot", though they later partially retracted the claim and said that only five of the arrestees rioted. The police were widely criticised for its excessive use of force and arrests of protesters inside hospitals. The conflict was the most serious and intense conflict between the police and the protesters during the early stage of the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. In response, activists began to call for a general strike and mobilise members from the public to protest outside Government Headquarters to stall the bill from passing its second reading. The bill, if enacted, would have allowed Hong Kong government to extradite criminal fugitives to areas including Taiwan and mainland China.