Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong released from jail

Joshua Wong, who became the face of the 2014 “Umbrella Movement” as a teenager, walked free from prison on Monday and urged the territory’s leader Carrie Lam to step down amid days of mass protests against a controversial extradition bill that would allow suspects to be sent to China for trial.

The 22-year-old was released from the Lai Chi Kok Correctional Facility after completing a two-month sentence for his part in the so-called Umbrella pro-democracy protests that brought the city to a standstill five years ago.

Before being jailed, Wong had called for the Hong Kong government to scrap the planned changes in the extradition law, which has for now been shelved indefinitely.

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive on Sunday apologised to the public and “promised to accept criticism with the most sincere and humble attitude”. But protesters have continued to demand her resignation.

“She is no longer qualified to be Hong Kong’s leader,” Wong told reporters. “She must take the blame and resign, be held accountable and step down.”

On Saturday, the chief executive had bowed to public pressure and suspended deliberation of the bill, but did not drop the proposal completely. The territory’s leader is chosen from a pre-selected list of candidates vetted by the government in Beijing.

Some camped out overnight on the streets after Sunday’s mass protest when an estimated two million people – most of them dressed in black – marched through the centre of the city to show their opposition to the bill.

Police said 338,000 were counted on the designated protest route in the “peak period” of the march. 

In the morning, as rain began to fall, the remaining demonstrators moved into a space outside Hong Kong’s Legislative Council allowing police to reopen roads to traffic.

The government building was closed Monday and was the scene of violent confrontations on June 12 in which about 80 people were injured. 

‘Extraordinary timing’

Wong, clutching his belongings and dressed in a white shirt, was mobbed by media and supporters as he walked out of jail.

Al Jazeera correspondent Sarah Clarke, reporting from Hong Kong, described Wong’s release as “extraordinary timing” for the pro-democracy groups and those opposed to the extradition treaty.

Wong’s sentence was reduced to two months from three because he was only 17 when he was arrested in 2014.

The pro-democracy activist won his appeal against a separate conviction and six-month sentence for unlawful assembly and was released after spending more than two months in prison in that case.

Soon after leaving prison Wong laid flowers at a makeshift memorial outside a shopping mall where a protester fell to his death on Saturday night after hanging a banner on some scaffolding.

Strikes and other smaller events were planned for Monday.

Former Hong Kong legislator Lee Cheuk-yan told AP demonstrators are looking at the long-term .

“If Carrie Lam does not respond to the five demands by the protesters, people will come back and the struggle will continue,” Lee said.