The Government strongly condemned the violent acts committed by some protesters after today’s procession in Sheung Shui.

In a statement, the Government said the majority of demonstrators behaved in a peaceful and orderly manner, but some protesters deliberately blocked roads after the procession, hurled iron poles, scattered an unknown powder, charged police cordon lines and assaulted police officers.

The Government said it always respects the public's right to express their views and demands in a peaceful, rational and orderly manner.

But a minority of protesters used violence to charge and cause damage. It is believed the majority of Hong Kong people would disapprove of such unlawful acts, it said.

The statement also noted the Government has been concerned with the nuisance caused by parallel trading activities to the daily lives of local residents.

It pointed out relevant law enforcement agencies and organisations have implemented measures to improve the operation at railway stations and boundary control points, as well as to mitigate the nuisance caused to local residents and any impact on environmental hygiene.

The Immigration Department established a watch list of suspected parallel traders in September 2012. As at the end of June 2019, the department placed information regarding over 25,300 people on the list.

In the past 18 months, about 5,000 Mainland visitors were refused entry due to suspected involvement in parallel trading activities.

During the same period, the Immigration Department and the Police have conducted about 140 joint operations and arrested 126 Mainland visitors for suspected contravention of their conditions of stay by being involved in parallel trading activities.

The Customs & Excise Department and Shenzhen authorities also mounted operations to combat parallel trading activities. Between January 2018 and May 2019, Shenzhen Customs detected about 9,000 smuggling cases by parallel traders at the boundary control points.

During the same period, Customs detected about 5,500 cases of illegal export of powdered formula, arrested 5,500 people and seized more than 26,000kg of powdered formula.

The Food & Environmental Hygiene Department has stepped up street cleaning services and enforcement actions at parallel trading black spots in North District and Yuen Long District. From January 2018 to May 2019, it conducted about 400 raids targeting parallel trading black spots in North District and issued about 8,100 fixed penalty notices.

As for Yuen Long District, about 170 raids were conducted, and 660 fixed penalty notices were issued.

During the same period, the Police issued 18 summonses for obstruction caused by parallel traders placing goods in public places and about 18,500 fixed penalty notices for road obstruction caused by illegal parking and loading of goods related to parallel trading activities in Sheung Shui, Yuen Long, Tuen Mun, and Lok Ma Chau.

The Government added the relevant departments will continue to proactively implement appropriate measures to mitigate the impact on the community brought by parallel trading activities.