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In response to a local Chinese newspaper's report today (December 29) on a public event to be held on Hong Kong Island on January 1, 2013, a Police spokesman made the following statement:
ˇ§Having liaised and discussed with the organiser who planned to hold a public meeting and procession on Hong Kong Island on January 1, 2013, Police issued the Letter of No Objection (LONO) to the organiser on December 22. One of the conditions stated in the LONO is that Police will facilitate the procession to proceed on the entire westbound lanes (except the tramways) along the agreed route. Therefore, Police have not narrowed down the procession area and the newspaper report headline ˇ§Police further narrowed down procession areaˇ¨ is entirely unfounded.
Police reiterated that in addition to various public events to be held on the Hong Kong Island on the New Year Day, the annual Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo is also being held at Victoria Park. It is expected that many people will go to the vicinity for leisure and shopping on the New Year day which is a public holiday. In anticipation of the large number of people in the areas, Police will implement a number of temporary traffic management and crowd control measures to facilitate the public to visit the Expo or participate in the public events held in Victoria Park.
Police have imposed a number of conditions including that the relevant organiser shall endeavour to assist Police in ensuring that participants will not set up any booths for fund-raising, hawking or promotional activities along the agreed routes and as such not to cause any unreasonable obstruction to the proceeding of the procession. This condition is imposed on the procession with due consideration of public safety and public order, and absolutely not to suppress any organisation. Indeed, Police adopted a consistent approach in facilitating similar public events. The same condition has also been imposed on a procession on Hong Kong Island on December 30, 2012 and four other processions on Hong Kong Island on January 1, 2013.
The Force'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 organiser to implement appropriate crowd management measures to ensure that the public events are held in a safe and orderly manner.
Moreover, it is clearly stated at the press conference held on December 28 that Police has on December 21 invited members of the Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) to observe the crowd management and traffic arrangement by the police during the public events on January 1.ˇ¨
Police Report No. 283
Ends/Saturday, December 29, 2012
Issued at HKT 19:33
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