Police are granting organizers a “no objection” letter on the condition that they ensure the protest does not violate national security laws.
Hong Kong police allowed a small protest march under strict restrictions in one of the first demonstrations to be approved since the enactment of a sweeping national security law in 2020.
On Sunday, several dozen protesters had to wear numbered lanyards and were banned from wearing masks, as police monitored their march against a land reclamation and garbage treatment project.
Participants chanted slogans against the rehabilitation project as they marched in the rain with banners in the eastern district of Tseung Kwan O, where the project is expected to be built.
Some criticized restrictions on their protest, including limiting the number of participants to 100, according to a seven-page police letter to organizers seen by Reuters.
“We need to have a freer culture of protest,” said James Ockenden, 49, who marched with his three children.
“But it’s all pre-arranged and numbered and it just destroys the culture and will put people off coming for sure.”
Responding to the protest, the city’s Development Office said the project was intended to “support the daily needs of the community”.
He said he would “respect the right to freedom of expression” and consider reducing the scale of the polderization.
Police granted organizers a “no objection” letter on the condition that they ensure the protest would not violate national security laws, including protests or riotous speech.
“Some offenders may mix with the public meeting and motorcade to disturb public order or even engage in unlawful violence,” police warned in their letter.
Organizers said up to 50 people took part in the first protest authorized by city police in several years.
Requests for other events, including a candlelight vigil on June 4 to commemorate the victims of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, have been denied on grounds related to COVID social distancing.
The last of Hong Kong’s COVID restrictions was lifted this year, following China’s decision to end its “zero-COVID” policy.
Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, guarantees the right of public assembly.
Since the China-imposed national security law enacted in June 2020 in response to protracted pro-democracy protests in 2019, the authorities restricted the freedoms and arrested dozens of opposition politicians and activists.
An eye on the protests
Some Western governments have criticized the law as a tool of repression, but Chinese authorities say it has restored stability to the financial hub.
A protester named Chiu, 50, said she appreciated the opportunity to protest “in difficult times” and said she saw lanyards more as a way to help manage crowds.
“It doesn’t mean putting us on a leash to restrict our expression. I think that’s acceptable,” she told Reuters.
Political observers and some Western diplomats are watching to see if authorities will allow a resumption of major protests in Hong Kong, namely June 4 and July 1, which had been a mainstay of the city’s once vibrant civil society scene and attracted thousands of people.
Earlier this month, the Hong Kong Working Women’s Association had planned a march to demand labor and women’s rights, but canceled it at the last moment without specifying why.
A few days later, the association said on its Facebook page that the police had invited it to more meetings after granting it the approval and that they had done their best to modify the agreement. But he still could not launch the protest as he had wished, he wrote at the time.
A pro-democracy group separately said national security police warned four of its members not to participate in the association’s march.
