Mixed Result For Appeals On Protest Bans

An appeal board has upheld a police ban on a mass anti-extradition march planned for Sunday, but decided to allow one scheduled for Saturday afternoon in To Kwa Wan and Whampoa after organisers agreed to amend the route.

Police have given permission for the Civil Human Rights Front only to hold a rally at Victoria Park itself on Sunday, but banned the group from staging a planned march to Chater Road in Central afterwards.

The Appeal Board on Public Meetings and Processions decided after hearing arguments from both sides on Friday night that such a procession would pose a serious threat to public safety.

The board’s chairperson and three members debated the matter for around 45 minutes following the hearing before deciding to uphold the police ban. However, the decision was not unanimous.

The vice-convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front, Bonnie Leung, said she was “angry and disappointed” at the board’s decision, saying banning the march would be much more dangerous than allowing it.

“The expected number of participants is at least 300,000 people, and Victoria Park can only contain 100,000 people, so Victoria Park cannot contain all the estimated participants, so it will create a real danger to all the participants and the appeal board simply ignored the fact that it will create chaos and danger,” Leung said.

However, she said the group would respect the ruling, and called on all participants joining Sunday’s rally to remain “peaceful and rational.”

Assistant Police District Commander Liauw Ka-kei welcomed the ruling, stressing that the force decided to ban the procession purely on public order and safety considerations.

“We hope that the organiser could also respect the decision made by the appeal board, and fully cooperate with police,” he said.

Liauw added that officers will discuss with the front in the future on how they can organise public gatherings that are safe and orderly.

But the appeal board later overturned a police ban on a separate rally in Kowloon on Saturday afternoon after organisers agreed on a different route.

The march will now be allowed to start from Hoi Sham Park in To Kwa Wan to the Whampoa MTR station, from 3.30pm to 5:30pm. Organisers are also required to arrange at least 100 marshalls, and must call on participants to leave and not take part in any illegal action at the end point.

Organiser Timothy Lee said he was surprised that the ban was overnight, “but freedom of procession and freedom of assembly is the fundamental rights of Hong Kong residents enshrined in the Basic Law, so we are just getting what we originally deserve.”

“I can’t see this as a victory or something we are going to be very happy about”, he added.

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