The Police today objected to an application to hold a protest in Yuen Long this Saturday.

At today's press conference, Police New Territories North Acting Regional Commander Tsang Ching-fo said the decision was made after considering a series of factors including public safety, traffic and crowd management, and social sentiment.

The applicant for the protest was informed of the Police’s decision.

However, Mr Tsang made it clear the force will still deploy officers in Yuen Long on Saturday to prevent any violence.

"There will be deployment like this to prevent any sort of attack on the locals and there will possibly be deployments for general policing as well as the transport arrangement to prevent any sort of disturbance of the transport within the area.”

Regarding the Police’s handling of the violent incident in Yuen Long on July 21, Mr Tsang stated there is room for improvement in the force’s deployment.

“The Police have a long history of handling many public order events successfully. For this particular event, there may be some room for improvement in the deployment.”

“We will be using our best knowledge to handle any violent incidents. We understand that there was a gap between our operation deployment, the outcome of the incident and the expectation of the public.

“We are deeply saddened by not being able to prevent the incident and the injuries of the public.”