Government strongly condemns LegCo break-in by violent acts of radicals
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     The Government strongly condemns the violent acts by some violent radicals who stormed the Legislative Council (LegCo) Complex early this morning (November 19).

     In the course of forcing themselves into the LegCo Complex, violent radicals repeatedly charged the Complex by using mills barriers and bricks to smash the glass doors at different places and damage the building facade, resulting in severe damage to various parts of the Complex. The radicals also attempted to obstruct police officers at the scene from carrying out their duties and provoked them. After repeated appeals and warnings, which turned out to be futile, police officers adopted the minimum force to counteract and stop the protesters from continued charging. In the incident, three police officers sustained injuries and six persons have been arrested so far. The Police are conducting a thorough investigation into the incident and further arrests will be made.

     Due to the violent acts by the radical protesters, the meetings of the LegCo Public Works Subcommittee and the Council meeting originally scheduled for this morning were forced to be rescheduled. The operation of the LegCo was once again disrupted.

     A government spokesman stressed that members of the public shall observe the law when expressing views or aspirations. The spokesman added that the Government would not tolerate any violent acts.

Ends/Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Issued at HKT 15:25

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