Hong Kong elections: police to flood city streets with 10,000 officers to ensure ‘smooth and safe’ Legislative Council vote
- Police chief Raymond Siu says force will take steps to ensure process passes without incident
- Public urged not to ‘attempt to disturb and cause trouble’ during the election on December 19
Hong Kong police will flood the city’s streets with more than 10,000 officers on December 19 to ensure the Legislative Council election proceeds smoothly and safely, the force’s chief has said.
Police Commissioner Raymond Siu Chak-yee on Saturday said a large number of plain-clothes officers would also be deployed on election day to detect and prevent any attempts to disturb and cause trouble. Members of special police units such as the counter terrorism team also stand ready to stop any action leading to serious disturbances.
Speaking after the Hong Kong Police College passing out parade, where 86 constables and 24 inspectors graduated, Siu appealed to the public not to “attempt to disturb and cause trouble in the election”.
“I’m confident that we will ensure the election will be held smoothly and safely,” he said.
Siu also condemned those who had sent threatening letters to election candidates as well as judges, and said the organised crime and triad bureau had been investigating. He called the behaviour “furtive and naive”.
On Thursday, Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, an executive councillor and pro-establishment lawmaker seeking re-election next month, said she had received the same type of threatening mail sent to several judges in recent weeks. The letter she received bore postage marks from Taiwan and contained a substance suspected to be rotten meat.
A police source previously said the letters had all come from Taiwan, while a Telegram channel run by an internet user going by the name of “Hor Foon Hay”, who claims to be in exile on the self-ruled island, took responsibility for the threats, including the one to Ip.
“I warn people not to interfere in the election with criminal offences such as making any threats, wherever they are,” Siu said.
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Next month, there would be 620 ordinary polling stations across the city serving its 4.47 million voters, the electoral office said on Friday. It added that 38,000 civil servants would discharge electoral duties at different posts. Ballot boxes will be delivered to the central counting station at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Siu also touched on recruitment, saying the force needed more new blood, and said the number of new officers jumped 6.8 per cent this year from in 2020, while the number of police inspectors leapt 20 per cent.
On December 12, the force would organise another round of recruitment and experience events at the Wong Chuk Hang college to allow people interested in the profession to learn more by speaking to serving officers, he added.
