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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Stephen Lam, (in the absence of Secretary for Security) to a question by the Hon Lau Chin-shek in the Legislative Council today (April 9):
Question:
Will the Government provide this Council with the following statistics relating to public meetings and public processions referred to in the Public Order Ordinance (Cap. 245)?
Public meetings and 2005 2006 2007
public processions
─────────── ─── ─── ───
Total number of cases
Number of cases for
which notifications
to the Police were
required under the
law
(i) and notifications
were given
(ii) but notifications
were not given
Number of cases for
which notifications
to the Police were
not required
(i) but notifications
were given
(ii) and notifications
were not given
Number of cases for which
notifications were given
after the notice period
stipulated in the Public
Order Ordinance
Number of persons who,
because of their
participation in public
meetings or public
processions, were
(i) arrested
(ii) prosecuted
(iii) convicted
Reply:
Madam President,
In response to the Member's question, the Administration provides the following figures:
Public meetings and 2005 2006 2007
public processions
─────────── ─── ─── ───
Total number of cases 1 900 2 228 3 824
Number of cases for
which notifications
to the Police were
required under the
law
(i) and notifications 1 067 981 1 004
were given
(ii) but notifications 23 24 30
were not given
Number of cases for
which notifications
to the Police were
not required
(i) but notifications 229 326 427
were given
(ii) and notifications 581 897 2 363
were not given (Note 1)
Number of cases for which 111 103 129
notifications were given
after the notice period
stipulated in the Public
Order Ordinance (Note 2)
Number of persons who,
because of their
participation in public
meetings or public
processions, were
(i) arrested 1 158 23 30
(ii) prosecuted 7 7 24
(iii) convicted 0 7 0
(Note 1) The figures include only cases that came to police officers' attention when they were on outdoor duty.
(Note 2) The figures shown in the table include only cases for which the organisers were warned by the Police, either verbally or by an advisory letter, for giving notification after the notice period stipulated in the Public Order Ordinance. The Police do not keep statistics on cases for which the organisers were not warned (verbally or by an advisory letter) for giving notification after the notice period stipulated in the Public Order Ordinance.
Ends/Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Issued at HKT 16:50
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