TNAG-0969-FCO40-1188-Human-rights-in-Hong-Kong-1980 — Page 46

C

Public

processions

require

licensing

Power of

Police

unchanged

refusing to issue a licence in the previous Ordinance, and

additional conditions and limitations can still be set

for the meeting (section 11).

The only difference in fact is that it saves

the Commissioner of Police a lot of trouble by requiring the applicant to set down conditions in the 'liceace' for the public meeting (section 8) for his approval.

Public procession still requires licensing as before except when it is not on a public highway or thor-

$ oughfare or in a public park, or when not more than 20

persons are involved.

Thus, it appears less absurd than previously but gives no relaxation on control of significant demons-

trations or processions.

The power of the Police remain essentially

unchanged ----sestions 6, 9, 11(2), 14, 17, 170.

Thus, it is equivalent to giving people no

right in public meetings and processions.

Part III

should be deleted

In fact, Part III of the Ordinance is not

there to preserve public order and peace but to control

public expression of counter-Government opinions and to

control petitions that tead to embarass the bureaucratic

Government.

*

Public order and peace will not be at risk

even without Part III of the Ordinance as Part IV and

the other parts already give enough protection for the

maintainance of public order.

!

Thus, we demand that Part III and the rele-

vant sections thereof be deleted from the Public Order

Ordinance.

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