CONFIDENTIAL
4.
As paragraph 2 of Hong Kong telno 1457 indicates, the provisions of the POO which it is proposed to amend are rarely, if ever, enforced by the police. But it is
anomalous and bad practice to leave them on the statute book
and Hong Kong Government have said that the police cannot
enforce them other than in a confrontational manner which
would impair general public safety. They could also ultimately be challenged under the Bill of Rights as
restricting the right of peaceful assembly. We therefore
agree that the amendments should be made but, as set out in
FCO telno 946, we think that the time to do this is during
the next session of LegCo, when (a) the Bill of Rights has
been enacted and (b) the airport talks are out of the way.
ARPa
A R Paul
ROEAKE/2
CONFIDENTIAL
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