APPENDIX TO LIC ASSESSMENT FOR OCTOBER
ROYAL HONG KONG POLICE SITUATION AS AT 9 NOVEMBER 19777. SINCE THE FORMATION CF ICAC, IN 1974, THERE HAS BEEN FRICTION BETWEEN CAC AND THE POLICE. THIS WAS BROUGHT TO A DANGEROUS PITCH BY THE ARREST IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER OF ABOUT 200 POLICE OFFICERS. THIS CAUSED ALARM TO A LARGE NUMBER OF OTHERS, WHO KNEW THAT THEY WERE LIKELY TO BE INVESTIGATED BY ICAC,
2. FOLLOWING A NUMBER OF SMALLER MEETINGS, WHICH STEADILY GREW IN SIZE TO ONE OF 3,000 ON THE EVENING OF OCTOBER 27, ABOUT 2,000 OFF-DUTY RANK AND FILE POLICE OFFICERS ASSEMBLED AT THE STAR FERRY AND WALKED TO POLICE HEADQUARTERS ON THE MORNING OF 28.
OCTOBER.
3. FIVE POLICE REPRESENTATIVES WERE GRANTED AN INTERVIEW BY THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE, AT WHICH THEY AMPLIFIED THE PETITION WHICH THEY HAD PRESENTED ON 26 OCTOBER: THIS PETITION HAD COMPLAINED ABOUT THE TACTICS AND METHODS USED BY ICAC. THEY ALLSO SOUGHT APPROVAL TO THE FORMATION OF A RANK AND FILE STAFF
ASSOCIATION.
4. THE POLICE OFFICERS DISPERSED QUIETLY, BUT SHORTLY AFTERWARDS A GROUP OF ABOUT 200 (THE MAJORITY OF WHOM ARE BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN PRESENT AT POLICE HEADQUARTERS) WENT TO THE NEARBY
HUTCHISON HOUSE, A MULTI-STOREY BUILDING, WHERE ABOUT 40 GAINED ACCESS BY LIFTS TO THE 6TH FLOOR WHERE THE ICAC HEADQUARTER OFFICES ARE LOCATED. A SCUFFLE ENSUED. A FULL POLICE ENQUIRY IS BEING CONDUCTED INTO THIS INCIDENT.
5. THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE SUBSEQUENTLY AGREED TO THE FORMATION OF A JUNIOR POLICE OFFICERS STAFF ASSOCIATION FOR THE RANK AND FILE. A SELF-APPOINTED PREPARATORY COMMITTEE OPEN SQUARE BRACKETS WHICH INCLUDED SEVERAL POLICE OFFICERS WHO WERE UNDER INVESTIGATION BY ICAC CLOSE SQUARE BRACKETS TOOK THE LEAD IN FORMULATING VARIOUS DEMANDS, MAINLY ABOUT THE ACTIVITIES OF ICAC. FOLLOWING A SERIES OF FURTHER MEETINGS BY THE RANK AND FILE, THE PREPARATORY COMMITTEE STARTED TO CONSIDER MEANS OF PUTTING PRESSURE ON THE COMMISSIONER AND THE GOVERNMENT,
GOVERNMENT, EG BY NOT CARRYING OUT THEIR DUTIES. THE LOCAL INSPECTORS ASSOCIATION, REPRESENTING ABOUT
-3- SECRET
500.