Police ready to arrest Occupy protesters defying High Court orders: government
Hong Kong police are ready to arrest pro-democracy protesters ignoring court injunctions ordering them to leave protest sites that have been occupied for a month, a lawyer for the government told the court on Monday.
Police are ready to help bailiffs by arresting protesters who flout injunctions ordering them to clear the streets, the High Court heard yesterday.
The comments came from a barrister for the government as the court considered whether to keep in force interim orders against protesters blocking streets in Mong Kok and Admiralty, granted on October 20 to groups representing taxi drivers, minibus owners and the owner of a skyscraper.
While "it is not the intention of the secretary for justice to enter into the arena", police would help uphold the injunctions as directed by the court, said barrister Jin Pao, for the government.
Pao said the protests involved crimes including unlawful assembly, and many participants knew they had caused serious traffic congestion.
Lawyers for Chiu Luen Public Light Bus Company, the Taxi Association and Taxi Drivers and Operators Association, and Goldon Investment, the owner of Citic Tower in Admiralty, had argued on Friday that the injunctions should be upheld.
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Counsel for the taxi drivers said the drivers had suffered financially because of the blockade on Nathan Road. Lawyers for the tower owners claimed the Admiralty blockade had affected the building's emergency exits, endangering tenants.