Police's role in management of public meetings clarified

Tuesday, November 11, 1997

The role of the Police in the management of public meetings and processions now remains as it was before July 1 and there has been no change in policy in handling demonstrations, the Director of Operations of the Police, Mr Ng Ching-kwok, said today (Tuesday) in response to recent comments in the media on Police handling of demonstrations outside the venue of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund (WB/IMF) Meetings in September this year.

"Our primary objective is to ensure public safety and at the same time enable the protesters to express their views in an orderly, peaceful and lawful manner," he said.

The Police discharge their duties under the Police Force Ordinance and the Public Order Ordinance in preserving public safety and order, and to regulate public processions and meetings.

The Police do not seek to impose unnecessary restrictions on demonstrations and decisions as to the number and manner of Police deployment are made on the ground by the senior Police officer in charge of the operation.

"In making such a decision the officer would normally take into consideration the circumstances prevailing at the time including the size of the crowd, the location of the event and the mood of the protesters," Mr Ng said.

During the WB/IMF Meetings, Police had the added responsibility of ensuring the personal safety of a large number of VIP attendees in accordance with the requirements of the Internationally Protected Persons and Taking of Hostages Ordinance, an international obligations, he noted.

Police officers are trained and instructed to use maximum restraint and minimum force in all circumstances.

"We are constantly reviewing our strategy in handling public meetings and processions and preparing ourselves to discharge our duties in the best interest of the community.

"The Bill of Rights has been included into the syllabuses of the Police Training School as a subject for a number of years,' He said.

Regarding recent comments that the Police had imposed further restrictions on public meetings and processions by asking protesters to provide additional information in their notifications, Mr Ng said the forms used for notifying a public meeting/procession had not been amended since it was introduced in December 1995.

Nothing had changed since then, he added.

"Information furnished to the Police via the notification form is used entirely to facilitate the management of the public meetings/processions and the deployment of manpower. We do not use any of the information for other purposes,' he stressed.

Mr Ng noted there was an average of 88 public meetings/processions held each months between July and October this year. For the first six months of the year the monthly figure was 87. The monthly average for last year stood at 83.

"Not a single such event was objected to by the Police for the past three years," he emphasised.

"These figures themselves well-illustrate that peaceful demonstrations remain very much a way of life after July 1 and Hong Kong people's freedom of assembly has not diminished in any way,' he said.