Central Waterfront Dock Handed Over To PLA Garrison

A 150-metre-long military dock on the Central waterfront has officially been handed over to the Hong Kong Garrison of the People's Liberation Army, making it off-limits to the public, despite earlier pleas by environmentalists to turn it into an open space.

The Hong Kong government announced that the Central Military Dock had been delimited as a military restricted zone from 7am on Tuesday. It will be managed and used by the PLA Hong Kong Garrison from now on.

At a handover ceremony on Tuesday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said that while the dock has strong military and defence purposes, the Garrison has agreed to consider opening up non-restricted areas to the public on a discretionary basis.

She thanked mainland officials and said the move demonstrates the Garrison's care for Hong Kong.

According to the Public Order Ordinance, four buildings on the dock are "closed areas" and off-limits to the public. And the Garrison Law will now apply to the site.

Activists had pressed for opening up the site for public use, an arrangement they say was promised in an earlier agreement between the Garrison and the government but was seemingly scrapped.

They had said the promise to open the site on "special occasions" won't be enough to meet the public's needs.