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Police will implement crowd safety management measures to facilitate the holding of a public meeting and procession at Victoria Park, Causeway Bay on January 1, 2014 (Wednesday).
In addition to the said event, the 48th Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo (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¡¦s 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 and crowd safety management measures to facilitate the public to visit the Expo or participate in the public order event.
The procession will gather at the Central Lawn of Victoria Park at 2.30pm and set off for the venue of the meeting in Central at 3pm, en route South Boulevard and the Basketball Courts of Victoria Park, westbound Causeway Road via Gate 15, Leighton Road, Irving Street, Pennington Street, Yee Wo Street, Hennessy Road, Des Voeux Road Central. The venue of the meeting in Central will include the Chater Road Pedestrian Precinct, the Statue Square, a section of Ice House Street between Chater Road and Des Voeux Central, a section of Des Voeux Road Central between Pedder Street and Jackson Road, and the Chater Garden.
The event organiser will divide the Central Lawn of Victoria Park into four zones to enable participants to enter and set off from the Central Lawn smoothly and orderly.
As Gate 14 on Hing Fat Street is one of the main accesses to Expo, Police will carry out tidal flow crowd safety management measure at the Basketball Courts near Gate 14, Victoria Park during the public meeting / procession. To minimise the inconvenience caused to people visiting Expo, when the procession is passing the Basketball Courts, participants may have to give way to the Expo-goers when such need arises and to follow Police¡¦s directions on site.
The procession will set off at 3pm. To ensure smooth flow of the procession, the South Boulevard of Victoria Park will be closed 10 to 15 minutes before the departure of the procession. At that point, the public will no longer be able to get access to the Central Lawn via South Boulevard.
If they wish to gain entry to the Central Lawn from Causeway Bay, they should enter from Great George Street to Fountain Square, i.e. Gate 7, walk along West Boulevard and then North Boulevard to the Central Lawn. For entry from Tin Hau, access should be made through East Boulevard and North Boulevard, via Gates 12 or 14 along Hing Fat Street.
Members of the public visiting the Expo can enter the venue from Gloucester Road service road via Gates 6 in Causeway Bay. They can also enter the venue from Gate 14 on Hing Fat Street, Tin Hau.
The procession will proceed along the westbound carriageway of the procession route and the eastbound and westbound tram lanes along Yee Wo Street, Hennessy Road and Queensway. The eastbound carriageway will be used as emergency vehicles access and used by other road users.
People going to Admiralty, Wan Chai, Causeway Bay and Tin Hau for shopping and leisure, participating in the procession or visiting the Expo are encouraged to use public transport. They should follow the directions given by Police officers on site or event marshals and be aware of the temporary signage displayed in the vicinities. Police will make full effort to help the organiser and the public.
With due consideration of public safety and public order, Police have imposed a number of conditions including the one which requires the event organiser to use their best endeavours to assist the Police to ensure that the activities and structure of street stations for fund-raising, hawking or any other propaganda purpose, will not cause any unreasonable obstruction to the procession, nor endanger the safety of the procession participants or other road users.
Sogo crossing and Paterson Street crossing will be temporarily closed during the procession. Past experience has shown that many procession participants jammed in the procession at these two points causing obstruction and delay to the main procession from Victoria Park. Moreover, this affects the traffic at the eastbound carriageway and its role as emergency vehicles access, bringing risks to public safety and public order. Procession participants are requested not to jam in at these two points. People who intend to cross Yee Wo Street can use the subway of MTR, Sugar Street Footbridge and Percival Street Footbridge.
In case the venue of the meeting in Central is heavily congested with people, procession participants who are unable to enter the venue of the meeting shall disperse to the west via the southern pavement of Des Voeux Road Central and the pavements of Queen¡¦s Road Central.
A number of MTR exits are located within the venue of the meeting in Central. MTR Exit J1 will be closed. Depending on the crowd situations, there may be exit control at other MTR exits. Members of the public shall pay attention to the announcement inside MTR stations and instruction from Police officers.
It is the policy of Hong Kong Police to endeavour to facilitate all lawful public order events and it is the duty of Police to take measures to ensure public safety and public order. Police wish to cooperate closely with the organiser in order to facilitate a safe and orderly procession.
Police appeal to the event participants to remain calm and be considerate, as well as to express their views in a peaceful manner.
Police Report No. 444
Ends/Monday, December 30, 2013
Issued at HKT 22:52
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