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Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Security, Mr Lai Tung-kwok, at a media session at Central Government Offices, Tamar, after the Fight Crime Committee meeting this afternoon (December 19):
Reporter: Mr Lai, the occupy protest ended for now but do you expect them to flare up again over the Christmas period? Is the Government going to take any measures to stop that from happening? Secondly, a couple of activists today tried to go to Macau but were denied entry, are you going to follow up on that? Does Macau have a blacklist of Hong Kong activists?
Secretary for Security: Two questions. Let me answer the first question. Christmas holiday is very important and this year we've got at least two days plus two days if I am correct. So we have four days to celebrate this festival. In accordance with our expectation, there will be quite a lot of Hong Kong residents going outdoors to have gatherings and celebrations. The Police will deploy sufficient manpower to facilitate and enable people who come out to celebrate to have a happy time. Anybody who gathers illegally without prior notification to the Police and who breached the law will be handled by the Police promptly. The purpose is to ensure that any protest actions will be properly handled so that people who come out to celebrate will not be adversely affected. Regarding your second question, any jurisdiction has its own power either to admit or to refuse entry of visitors. We respect the decisions of the respective authorities. We have a standard established procedure that any Hong Kong resident who encounters problems outside Hong Kong can make a request for assistance to the Immigration Department. And, if the department receives any such request, the department will handle it in accordance with the established practice.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Friday, December 19, 2014
Issued at HKT 19:50
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