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On November 13, Police received notification from an organisation to hold public meetings and procession on Hong Kong Island on January 1, 2014. Since then, Police have actively maintained communication with the organiser and provided advice and assistance. Police held preparatory meeting with the organiser on December 2 and conducted a site visit with the organiser on December 5. Independent Police Complaints Council representatives attended on both occasions. Today (December 16), Police issued the Letter of No Objection (LONO) to the organiser.
The organiser plans to hold a public meeting in Victoria Park from 2.30pm to 3.30pm on January 1, 2014. A procession will then start at 3pm from Causeway Road, Irving Street, Pennington Street, Yee Wo Street, Hennessy Road, Queensway, Des Voeux Road Central to Chater Road Pedestrian Precinct, to be followed by a public meeting there until 10pm. The number of participants stated in the notification by the organiser is 50,000.
With due consideration of public safety and public order, as well as the freedoms and rights of the members of the public, Police have imposed a number of conditions in the LONO which include the following:
(1) The 48th Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo is being held in Victoria Park on January 1, 2014 and Police will implement crowd management measures for this event. During the public meeting / procession, Police will control the crowd in tidal flow manner as gate 14 of Victoria Park is one of the main access for the public to enter the venue of the 48th Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo. For this reason, the participants of the public procession shall cooperate with the Police and comply with instructions given by the Police with due regard to the prevailing crowd flow while crossing the basketball courts of Victoria Park, and, if necessary, give way to the people who are entering the venue of the 48th Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo;
(2) If the entire eastbound and westbound carriageways of Yee Wo Street, Hennessy Road and Queensway are open to public procession as per the request stated in the notification and the amended notifications submitted on November 13 and 26 respectively by the organiser, public transport services and public emergency services in Admiralty, Wan Chai, Causeway Bay and the vicinity will be substantially affected and delayed. Furthermore, the New Year¡¦s Day holiday falls on that day and the Hong Kong Brands & Products Expo is to be held at the Victoria Park, a large number of people are expected to go to Wan Chai, Causeway Bay, Tin Hau and the vicinity for leisure and shopping on that day, resulting in great demand on public transport for going to and leaving these areas. For these reasons, in consideration of the safety of the procession participants and members of the public, as well as the right of other road users, the Police will arrange for the public procession to proceed along the westbound carriageway of the aforesaid procession route, the eastbound and westbound carriageways of Des Voeux Road Central, as well as the eastbound and westbound tram lanes, whereas the eastbound carriageway of Causeway Road, Yee Wo Street, Hennessy Road and Queensway will be reserved for the use by emergency vehicles and other road users;
(3) The organiser shall use best endeavours to assist the Police to ensure that the activities of participants for fund-raising, hawking or any other propaganda purpose, and the stalls or any temporarily erected structures related, will not cause any unreasonable obstruction to the procession, nor endanger the safety of the procession or other road users;
(4) In case the venue of meeting being held in the Central District is jam-packed and heavily congested with people posing risk to public safety and public order, the organiser shall use best endeavours to call on those procession participants who are unable to enter the venue of the meeting to disperse in the western direction by proceeding along the southern pavement of Des Voeux Road Central and the pavement of Queen¡¦s Road Central;
(5) Upon conclusion of the public meeting in the Central District, the organiser shall use best endeavours to assist the Police in calling upon participants to disperse in an orderly manner.
The organiser requested Police to open all eastbound and westbound traffic lanes of Yee Wo Street, Hennessy Road and Queensway for the procession and leave only the tram lanes as emergency vehicles access. However, Police emphasised that this arrangement will impose substantial threat to the safety of the procession participants and members of the public along the procession route. This is because, should there be an emergency situation, the emergency services response (particularly those rendered by the Wan Chai and Central Fire Stations) will not be able to reach the scene promptly and efficiently, thereby delaying the rescue work and seriously affecting the safety of the procession participants and members of the public along Causeway Bay and Central area.
The organiser also requested to open the pedestrian crossing outside the SOGO Department Store during the procession to allow participants to join the procession. According to experience as such during large scale procession, huge number of participants crossing Yee Wo Street at the pedestrian crossing outside the SOGO Department Store and that at Paterson Street to join the procession starting from the Victoria Park would seriously obstruct and delay the main procession. The same would also seriously affect the traffic flow on the eastbound carriageway and its use by emergency vehicles, thereby severely jeopardising public safety and public order. For these reasons, Police will temporarily close these two pedestrian crossings during the procession and appeal to the participants not to join the procession at these two pedestrian crossings.
Police also appeal to participants to exercise restraint, stay calm, to be tolerant and co-operative and to express their views in a rational and peaceful manner. They should also listen to the instructions and advice of police officers at the scene. Police will cooperate closely with the organiser to implement appropriate crowd safety management measures in order to ensure that the public event will be held in a safe and orderly manner.
Police reiterate that our policy is to facilitate members of the public to take part in peaceful public events and hence have the duty to adopt effective measures to maintain public safety and public order and to balance the rights of the members of the public.
Police have uploaded the LONO conditions issued for the public meetings / procession onto the Police¡¦s website (http://www.police.gov.hk).
Police Report No. 310
Ends/Monday, December 16, 2013
Issued at HKT 19:41
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