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In December 2012, Police received notifications from seven organisations to hold public meetings and processions on Hong Kong Island on January 1, 2013. Police have initiated liaison and discussion with the organisers. Police issued three Letters of No Objection (LONOs) to three of the seven organisers on December 22. Another four LONOs were issued to the remaining organisers yesterday (December 24).
Among the four remaining organisers, two will hold procession and public meeting. The procession routes concerned are: organiser (1) from Chater Road Pedestrian Precinct, Central to outside 158A Connaught Road West, Sai Wan; and organiser (2) from Chater Road Pedestrian Precinct to East Wing Forecourt, Central Government Offices, Central. The other two public meetings will be held by organiser (3) at the garden outside Central Plaza, Harbour Road, Wan Chai and organiser (4) at Amphitheatre, Tamar Park, Central.
Regarding the processions held by organisers (1) and (2), Police have imposed a number of conditions, with due consideration of public safety and public order, which include the following:
- Experiences have shown that any booths set up for fund-raising, hawking or promotional activities will cause serious obstruction to the proceeding of the procession. For this reason, the two organisers shall endeavor to assist the Police in ensuring participants will not set up any booths for fund-raising, hawking or promotional activities along the agreed route and as such not to cause any unreasonable obstruction to the proceeding of the procession.
The Forceˇ¦s policy is to facilitate members of the public to take part in peaceful public events and hence has the duty to adopt effective measures to maintain public safety and public order. Police will cooperate closely with the organisers to implement appropriate crowd management measures to ensure that the public events are held in a safe and orderly manner.
Police have uploaded the LONO conditions issued for the above four public meetings / processions onto the Policeˇ¦s website (http://www.police.gov.hk).
Police Report No. 228
Ends/Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Issued at HKT 16:26
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