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Police today (June 14) have issued the Letter of No Objection (LONO) to the organiser of the public meetings and procession to be held on July 1. To ensure public safety and public order and to strike a balance between the rights of the participants and other members of the public and road users, Police have imposed a number of conditions upon the public events.
Police were notified by an organisation on April 16 of its intention to hold public meetings and procession on Hong Kong Island on July 1. The organiser then revised the details of the public meetings and procession on May 22 and June 5. A public meeting will be held at the Victoria Park at 1 pm while the public procession will start at 4 pm and proceed along Causeway Road, Leighton Road, Irving Street, Pennington Street, Yee Wo Street, Hennessy Road, Queensway, Des Voeux Road Central and finish at Chater Road Pedestrian Precinct where another public meeting will be held in the vicinity thereat until 11.59 pm.
Upon receipt of the notification, Police maintained close communication with the organiser and offered advice and assistance. Two meetings have been held with the organiser. The Independent Police Complaints Council Secretariat staff also attended every meeting as observers.
Police have conducted a thorough risk assessment. In order to strike a balance between the rights of all the parties concerned, including the request from the organiser, Police issued the LONO to the organiser today with a number of conditions imposed upon this public event. The conditions and considerations are as follows:
*Arrangements for the meeting in Victoria Park
In the amended notification submitted, the organiser stated that the public meeting was to start at 1 pm but the finishing time was extended to 4 pm, the venue of the meeting could be extended to include the central lawn in the Park and the starting time of the procession could be put back to 4 pm from 3 pm.
According to arrangements for similar public order events in the past, the procession needed to set off when the participants of the meeting and those awaiting the start of the procession had occupied about 85 per cent of the area of football pitches No. 1 - 6 in the Park. Under such arrangement, it still took two and a half hours or more for all the participants of the meeting and the procession to leave the Park.
The organiser proposed that the procession should not set off before the participants of the meeting and the procession have occupied all football pitches No.1- 6 and about 50 per cent of the area of the central lawn. Under such arrangement, more participants of the meeting and the procession will gather and wait at the football pitches and the central lawn than before. Moreover, the organiser anticipated that the number of participants of this meeting will be 100,000 instead of 50,000 as was the case for the last meeting. This arrangement will unavoidably extend the waiting time of a large number of participants of the meeting and the procession. It will thus take far more than two and a half hours for all the participants of the meeting and the procession to leave the Park.
Such prolonged waiting may trigger dissatisfaction or anger from the participants of the meeting and the procession. Under such circumstances this will lead to the occurrence of incidents or accidents and intensify the risk to public safety and public order.
Upon assessment by the Police, it is decided that the meeting is to be held in football pitches No. 1 - 6 of Victoria Park between 1 pm and 4 pm on July 1. However, when the participants of the meeting and those awaiting the start of the procession have occupied about 85 per cent of the area of football pitches No.1 - 6 in Victoria Park, the procession should set off from the Park.
When football pitches No.1 - 6 are fully packed with participants of the meeting and the procession, those who come late for the meeting and the procession may gather at the central lawn to await for their turn to start the procession.
*Starting time of the procession
In the notification and amended notification, the organiser estimated that the number of participants of the procession would increase from 50,000 to 100,000 and proposed postponing the starting time of the procession to 4 pm.
According to past experience in handling similar public order events, it took two and a half hours or more for all the participants of the meeting and procession at Victoria Park to leave the Park, and it took about three hours for the participants to complete the procession to Central.
If the procession commences at 4 pm, participants who set off later will not be able to leave the Park until around dusk, which implies that a large number of participants of the meeting and the procession will inevitably move along the carriageway after dusk. Such a situation may pose dangers to themselves and other road users.
Upon assessment of the above situation and the considerations mentioned in the previous part, the Police have decided that the procession is to commence at 3 pm or when about 85 per cent of the area of football pitches No.1 - 6 in the Park has been occupied by participants of the meeting and those waiting for the procession (whichever is earlier).
*Arrangements for the procession route
If the entire eastbound and westbound carriageways of Hennessy Road are open to public procession as per the request stated in the amended notifications submitted 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. Thus, 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. The eastbound and westbound tram lanes designated for the procession include the section in between Pennington Street and Heard Street, and the section in between Anton Street and Pedder Street; whereas the eastbound carriageways of Causeway Road, Yee Wo Street, Hennessy Road and Queensway will be reserved for use by emergency vehicles and other road users.
The Police will also implement the following crowd management safety measures on the day of event besides the above conditions:
*Arrangement on the road crossing zones outside SOGO Department Store and at Paterson Street
Experiences have shown that during large-scale processions, a huge number of participants crossed Yee Wo Street by way of the pedestrian crossing outside the SOGO Department Store and at Paterson Street, with the intention of joining the procession from Victoria Park. This led to serious obstruction and delayed the progress of the procession, and also seriously affected traffic flow on the eastbound carriageway and its use by emergency vehicles, thereby severely threatening public safety and public order. For this reason, the Police will temporarily close these two pedestrian crossings during the procession. The organiser shall endeavour to appeal to participants not to join the procession by way of the two said pedestrian crossings.
It is the policy of Police to help people conduct peaceful public activities and it is the duty of Police to adopt measures to ensure public safety and order. Police will cooperate with the organiser to arrange proper crowd management in order to facilitate a smooth and orderly procession.
The LONO has been uploaded to Police Website (www.police.gov.hk) for public viewing.
Ends/Saturday, June 14, 2014
Issued at HKT 17:17
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