Appeal not to block police operations

December 2, 2019

Police today called on citizens not to block officers during dispersal operations. 

 

Police Public Relations Branch Senior Superintendent Kong Wing-cheung made the appeal at a press conference where he responded to media questions about an officer allegedly pushing a woman to the ground during an operation yesterday.

 

“Because of the violent incident at the nearby procession earlier, at that time Police were conducting a dispersal operation at the MTR Tsim Sha Tsui East Station - one of the exits - during which we encountered two or three people who were trying to obstruct our way or to block our way of dispersal.

 

“At that time, our officer was holding a baton in front of his chest, and our officer walked towards the lady with intent to block her way and to minimise her obstruction of our ongoing dispersal operation.

 

“As you can see from the video, suddenly the woman knelt down and our officer at that time still held his baton in front of his chest. They had body contact before she fell to the ground. This was an unintended result which we did not want to see.”

 

He added that the woman has the right to launch a complaint with Police.

 

Mr Kong also urged the public not to block officers conducting dispersal operations.

 

He pointed put that during police operations in the past few months, they had encountered people who claimed to be safeguarding others at the scene or persuading officers to refrain from using force.

 

“However, as a matter of fact, they were obstructing the dispersal operation of Police. And sometimes they even did it in groups, joining hands to form a line to block our way.

 

“May I take this opportunity to appeal for the co-operation of everybody during this kind of dispersal operation. If anyone stands in front of us trying to block our way during our dispersal operation, we have to give them a warning to leave and if they ignore our warning, we may take necessary action to push them away.”

 

He reiterated that Police do not want anyone to get hurt during their operations.

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