Hong Kong protests: police have right to remove masks from reporters and patients at any time under new law, top brass tell frontline officers

Force held its first seminar with 400 officers, briefing them on the details of the newly enacted anti-mask law and related guidelines, insiders say

Law gives police the power to remove a mask from anyone in a public place whenever they reasonably believe the person is wearing it to prevent identification

Reading Time:4 minutes

Reporters can have their gas masks removed by police under the new law. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 6:54pm, 10 Oct 2019Updated: 11:30pm, 10 Oct 2019

Hong Kong police have the right to remove masks from reporters and patients at any time, the force’s top brass have told frontline officers and that anyone who resists can be arrested.

The Post was told the force held its first seminar with 400 officers at the police headquarters in Wan Chai on Wednesday evening, briefing them on the details of the newly enacted anti-mask law and related guidelines.

The city’s leader, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, last Friday invoked the colonial-era Emergency Regulations Ordinance to enact a ban on masks at public assemblies after the 17th straight weekend of protests triggered by the government’s now-withdrawn extradition bill.

The Prohibition on Face Covering Regulation states that performing an activity connected to employment that requires facial coverings for physical safety can be used as a “reasonable excuse” or defence when a person is prosecuted. The same exemption applies to those with a “pre-existing medical or health reason”.

The law also gives police the power to remove a mask from anyone in a public place whenever they reasonably believe the person is wearing the covering to prevent identification.

Facial coverings are also allowed for religious reasons.