Hong Kong Chief Executive Rejects Curfew in Mong Kok
Leung Chun-ying says there is no need to impose a curfew in Mong Kok and instead called for citizens to obey the law. Speaking during a visit to Seoul in South Korea, the Chief Executive said if citizens obey the law, there will be no need for injunctions and curfews.
“Adopting measures such as a curfew or any other kind of restriction is not a good way,” he said. “The best way is for citizens to be law-abiding.”
“We don’t need to even consider a curfew as speculated by other people.”
He said while the police operation to clear protest sites in Mong Kok was effective, “there is a likelihood that a relapse could take place.”
Leung said after the appeals by activists against the court orders, the Court of Final Appeal still upheld the injunctions, which led to the large number of bailiffs and police carrying out the injunction order.
“Hong Kong is a society that practices the rule of law. Everyone knows what is legal and what kinds of acts violate the laws. Occupying streets certainly violates the law,” he said.
“As such, if every citizen including those occupying the major streets in Mong Kok or Admiralty stops occupying those streets, then we don’t need to consider the injunction order, we don’t need to consider the deployment of the bailiffs and the deployment of the police.”
Occupy Central Leaders Banned from Mong Kok
The public face of Occupy Central, Joshua Wong Chi-fung, together with student leader Lester Shum and other activists have been banned from the heart of Mong Kok as a condition of bail.
The two students and 29 others were barred from going to the same area of Mong Kok bordered by Fa Yuen Street, Dundas Street, Shanghai Street and Mong Kok Street after appearing at the Kowloon City Magistrates Court yesterday.
Scholarism convener Wong and Federation of Students deputy chief Shum were arrested during scuffles with police on Wednesday as they cleared one of the largest protest sites that have choked the city for 60 days.
Radical lawmaker “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung was also among the defendants, aged from 17 to 65, who are accused of obstructing police officers from carrying out their duties.
No pleas were taken and they are due to appear in court again on January 14.
Allegations of Police Assault
Wong, 18, and Shum, 21, claimed after appearing in court that they were assaulted by police following their arrests.
Wong, who studies at Open University, said he was punched, insulted with foul language and that his scrotum was groped seven times. Shum, a Chinese University of Hong Kong student, said he was punched several times on the chest, stomach and back.
Bail Conditions and Legal Arguments
Prosecutor Angus Lee Ka-hung sought the ban for the 31 defendants as one of the conditions for bail, ranging from HK$50 to HK$500, to prevent them from re-offending.
He said banning them from Mong Kok was not unreasonable as there were no more bailiffs and traffic has resumed.
Principal magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen allowed the prosecution’s request to ban Wong and the other defendants from the Mong Kok area, and that they could only travel through the area by transport or in transit.
Law warned Wong not to break the injunction.
“You must comply with the bail conditions otherwise prosecutors may apply to the court to ask to withdraw the bail,” he said.
Barrister Hector Pun Hei for Cheung Ka-hang, a sound engineer working in a university, likened the Mong Kok ban to a cha chaan teng restaurant fight.
Pun said: “If there is a fight inside a cha chaan teng, those people should not be allowed to enter the cha chaan teng again in case they fight again.”
But now the road has been opened and bailiffs have left, it is impossible for his client to re-offend, he added.
But the magistrate dismissed the excuse, saying the case cannot be compared with a fight in a cha chaan teng.
He pointed out that, even when Nathan Road was cleared, some people still went back to Mong Kok.
Wong’s solicitor, Michael Vidler, argued that the motivation of the prosecution was political and that Wong has to enter the banned area when going to university in Ho Man Tin.
Leung said outside court: “My authority as a legislator has been quashed by the abuse of the due process by police.”
Several of those arrested – including Shum and Leung as well as League of Social Democrats vice chairman Wong Ho-ming – shouted outside court: “You can remove the barricades but you cannot remove our spirit.”
As Wong was about to board a taxi with his lawyer on Argyle Street, two young men suddenly ran out and pelted him with eggs.
Police arrested two men around Kowloon Hospital on suspicion of initiating the attack.