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The Preparatory Committee, on the other hand, is a body set up by the Chinese National People's Congress. According to the NPC's Decision adopted on 4 April 1990, the Committee's responsibilities are to prepare for the establishment of the HKSAR and to prescribe the specific method for forming the first SAR government and the first SAR legislature.
There are therefore clear distinctions between the functions of these two bodies. The establishment of the Preparatory Committee does not in any way alter the role of the JLG I have just described.
End
Processions and assemblies in public places
Following is a question by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung and a reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Peter Lai, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
On the night of 14 December 1995, a group of people and university students were proceeding to the Xinhua News Agency (Hong Kong Branch) to stage a protest rally, and when they reached the entrance to the pedestrian subway at the junction of Morrison Hill Road and Queen's Road East (opposite to Queen Elizabeth Stadium), they were stopped by a party of five to six police officers who did not permit the group to use the subway to go to the other side of the road. Members of the group queried the police officers at the scene and asked them to explain the legal justifications and reasons for the closure of the subway, but the police officers refused to reply. The group eventually had to cross the road to proceed to the Xinhua News Agency. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a)
what are the legal justifications and reasons for preventing a group of only a dozen people from using the pedestrian subway to proceed to the Xinhua News Agency: