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Hong Kong protests
Hong KongPolitics

Hong Kong police watchdog does not have powers and resources to cope with scale of protests, say Independent Police Complaints Council’s expert advisers

  • ‘Light touch’ body probing police conduct at demonstrations has ‘shortfall’ in capabilities, expert panel says
  • Investigatory powers such as summoning witnesses needed to meet the task of examining allegations against police, it finds

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Police arrest a protester during a demonstration in August. Allegations of excessive force by police are being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Council. Photo: AP Photo
Alvin Lum

Hong Kong’s police watchdog lacks the powers and resources to meet the demands of investigating the force’s conduct during protests, according to an international expert group.

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The Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) should be given investigatory powers to subpoena documents and summon witnesses, said the five-member panel appointed to advise the body.

The group said the nature of the protests and delays in gathering the facts justified upgrading the IPCC in line with equivalent bodies based in jurisdictions with a similar legal system to Hong Kong’s.
Complaints against police at protests on July 1, which marks the anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule, are being examined in the IPCC investigation. Photo: K. Y. Cheng
Complaints against police at protests on July 1, which marks the anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule, are being examined in the IPCC investigation. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Allegations of excessive force by police at protests, and the mob attack at Yuen Long railway station, are being probed by the IPCC, a statutory body set up to observe, monitor and review complaints against police.

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The Independent Expert Panel said they had “analysed IPCC capability to conduct a rigorous inquiry of the policing of protests in Hong Kong”.

That review had “indicated a shortfall in IPCC powers, capacity and independent investigative capability necessary to match the scale of events and the standards required of an international police watchdog operating in a city that values freedoms and rights”.

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