NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
W(B)L 51-7406
CONFIDENTIAL
Hong Kong Dear.
Ditor 1969
pointed out that this seems a somewhat drastic
modification of common law under which only
persons who are turbulent can be guilty of riot
and that under this Section a person could be
guilty without possessing any criminal intent.
The difficulty here is a practical one: the
police, when confronted with an unruly mob,
order it to disperse and those who remaine
must expect to be treated as active participants;
and if the police are forced to separate specta-
tors from participants when handling a riot
there might be a dangerous hesitation in dealing
with a critical situation. The Governor there-
fore considers that this particular Section
should be allowed to stand as it is. However,
it is considered that the "unlawful assembly"
referred to in this Section should be confined
to that defined in Section 18 (1) and should not
include the wider and less serious form of unlaw-
ful assembly defined in Section 12 (2). Such an
amendment would go some way towards meeting the
criticism of this Section.
(f), Paragraph 8;
Section 37 of the Ordinance deals with
permits to enter and leave a closed area.
"Justice" suggested that the Section should be
amended so as to require that reasonable notice
should be given in the event of the cancellation
of any such permit. Clause 18 of the draft Bill
makes such an amendment in respect of Section 31
(in relation to the cancellation of permits
authorising issued to persons to permit them to be out of
doors after the imposition of a curfew) and we
have accordingly suggested that a similar pro-
Cike can collation. It
vision should be made in relation to permits
issued under Section 37.
CONFIDENTIAL