Hong Kong's stock market soared Wednesday after local media reported that the city's embattled leader is planning to fully withdraw a loathed extradition bill, one of the main demands of pro-democracy protesters.
The protests evolved into a wider democracy campaign involving clashes between protesters and police, in the biggest challenge to China's rule of Hong Kong since its 1997 handover from the British. One pro-establishment lawmaker who asked to remain anonymous told AFP that their camp was being summoned to meet with Lam on Wednesday afternoon at 4pm ahead of an expected major announcement -- although the lawmaker said he did not know what the announcement would be.