Hong Kong is not becoming a ‘police state’, says police chief
Hong Kong Police Chief Raymond Siu Chak-yee has dismissed criticism that the police have become too powerful.
Police presence in Hong Kong on June 4, 2022. On the day, six people were arrested for alleged attempts to publicly commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown.
AFP
Hong Kong is not becoming a “police state”, the security official said on Tuesday, a few days after the deployment of an impressive police force to prevent the commemoration of the Tiananmen crackdown, long tolerated by the city authorities.
The once semi-autonomous territory is set to change its chief executive and celebrate the 25th anniversary of the handover of the former British colony to China. Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected on July 1 to attend this double event.
Asked by the HK01 news site about a tightening of security on the day, police chief Raymond Siu Chak-yee dismissed criticism that the police had become too powerful.
According to him, “a police state is when the government forcibly controls various aspects of people’s lives through administrative measures and bypassing legal procedures.” “Hong Kong is a society (where the rule of law reigns) and is not a police state,” he insisted.
These statements come after the arrest on June 4 of six people for alleged attempts to commemorate in public the 33rd anniversary of the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
Amnesty International has accused the city authorities of being “harassed” during the “indiscriminate” arrests.
The police had closed Victoria Park, a traditional place of commemoration of the bloody events of June 4, 1989, and deployed a large device in the nearby shopping district. People have been searched for holding flowers, wearing black or even, in one case, a toy tank.
Dissent muzzled
On Tuesday, authorities opened a “counter-terrorism hotline.” Residents are encouraged to call it to report “violent acts, activities suspected of being related to terrorism, especially extremist plots.” People will be compensated for “trustworthy” information, they said.
Since Beijing imposed a drastic national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, after huge and often violent pro-democracy demonstrations, the authorities have muzzled all dissent.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post daily, Raymond Siu Chak-yee “advised” residents not to watch or download “Revolution of Our Time,” a lengthy documentary about the 2019 protests. American streaming company Vimeo.
Posted today at 05:38
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