Lawyers say Occupy protests are undermining Hong Kong's rule of law

About 50 lawyers held a silent gathering outside the High Court yesterday to express their concern that the rule of law has been undermined by protesters occupying roads.

In a statement, the lawyers said: "Occupy Central disrupts and endangers the lives of Hong Kong people, causing immeasurable damage and inconvenience to literally all segments of the public."

They asked the government to strictly enforce the law without delay and urged occupiers to leave protest sites immediately.

This came as the Alliance for Peace and Democracy, an anti-Occupy alliance led by Robert Chow Yung, announced it had collected 1.83 million signatures in a campaign that calls for the restoration of public order and supports the police.

Chow said the signatures, accounting for a quarter of the city's population, gave them legitimacy and he would request meetings with student leaders and pan-democrat lawmakers to urge them to stop the action.

The silent gathering was initiated by solicitor Stanley Chan Wing-leung of Sun Lawyers and Doreen Kong Yuk-foon of Reed Smith Richards Butler.