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The following is the transcript of remarks (English portion) by the Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, this afternoon (December 18) after visiting the Police Catering and Support Centre at Harbour Road Sports Centre, Wan Chai:
Reporter: (Human rights group criticised the Police for using tear gas and the inhumane treatment of detainees)
Chief Executive: I think you can see that our Police Force has used minimum force in response to violent action, even physical attacks on policemen in every respect. Because really as a last resort the appropriate reaction was taken. It was the minimum force applicable under the circumstances, first using OC foam. That could not deal with the situation and they used water cannon, and then finally, tear gas. And that was again use of minimum force. Look at the size of the crowd and the small number of people injured, many of whom are policemen. It reflects one very basic fact that we have used appropriate and minimum force and maximum tolerance in the situation. All people apprehended have been apprehended according to the laws of Hong Kong. They will be dealt with strictly in accordance with the laws of Hong Kong. Those against whom we have evidence that they have caused violence, have attacked policemen and law enforcement agency we will take them before the court. Those we have not sufficient evidence against we will release them. This we will do accordingly. I think we have done and demonstrated to the rest of the world we are able to handle the situation well and we have dealt with all people appropriately and fairly in an open and fair fashion.
Reporter: Could you tell us how many were arrested? How many of them were injured? How many were deported? How many of them were foreigners?
Chief Executive. We have detained quite a few hundreds people and we are going through them carefully to see if we have identified those with sufficient evidence who have caused damage and attacked policemen yesterday. All of them will be dealt strictly in accordance with the laws of Hong Kong. Against those we have sufficient evidence we will take them before the court as soon as possible within 48 hours. They will be dealt with, as I said, in strict accordance with the laws of Hong Kong.
Reporter: How keen are you to hold meeting like this again?
Chief Executive: Well, we are performing our duty as a founding member of WTO. It is an important role. We are performing this function dutifully. I think we have contributed to world trade and contributed to the satisfactory conclusion of the Doha Round. I think we have done good to help reduce poverty in the world. This is our job as part of the human village and I¡¦m sure it is our responsibility and I¡¦m sure this has the support of Hong Kong people.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Sunday, December 18, 2005
Issued at HKT 18:35
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