Security stepped up for fresh Hong Kong anti-parallel trading protest as 500 police drafted in
Rural leaders will meet police to discuss security measures ahead of Sunday’s protest against parallel trading in Yuen Long as 500 officers were expected to be deployed in an effort to stop clashes.
Rural leaders will meet police to discuss security measures ahead of Sunday’s protest against parallel trading in Yuen Long as 500 officers were expected to be deployed in an effort to stop clashes with local residents.
Hundreds of people are expected to protest near Tai Tong Road Light Rail station, an area lined with grocers and pharmacists popular with cross-border parallel good traders and mainland tourists.
The protest could disrupt businesses and would follow similar demonstrations that have caused chaotic scenes in other New Territories towns in recent weeks.
District Councillor Leung Fuk-yuen, who is also chairman of the Shap Pat Heung rural affairs body, said today some residents and indigenous villagers were expected to come out to express their objection to the protest.
“Yuen Long is a quiet place and residents do not like to see outsiders stir up trouble in their area,” he told a DBC radio this morning.
He criticised protest organisers for getting people from other districts to “intervene” in the town’s affairs. “I think people should show mutual respect,” he said.
Leung did not say if the local communities were organising any counteraction to the protest. He said only that residents were expected to turn out spontaneously.
As of Friday, 537 people have signed up for the anti-parallel trading protest on the organisers’ Facebook page, up from 274 on Tuesday.
Leung and Yuen Long District Council chairman and DAB lawmaker Leung Che-cheung will meet police tomorrow to discuss crowd control measures.
Police planned to deploy 500 officers, Leung Che-cheung said.
Heung Yee Kuk chairman Lau Wong-fat today called for tolerance and peace. He said he appreciated the livelihoods of some residents could be disturbed if there were too many visitors.
“If you are shopkeepers, you would want more people to come. If you are ordinary residents, you may think otherwise. It is natural,” he said.
“But I hope the protesters don’t go too far. It is festive time. It should be a time for peace and harmony.”
He said he had heard some villagers would set up marshal teams to help maintain order if the protest grew too big.
“I hope there will be no conflict,” he added.
Lau also said he did not think the parallel trade problem was particularly serious in Yuen Long.
The planned protest would follow similar demonstrations in Sha Tin and Tuen Mun earlier this month.
Shops closed and tensions ran high in Tuen Mun on February 8 as a protest against parallel-goods trading descended into chaotic scenes, arrests and pepper spray.
A week later, clashes erupted at a Sha Tin shopping mall when anti parallel-goods trading demonstrators confronted police officers. Six men were arrested.