Former Hong Kong security minister slammed for comparing kidnap to Occupy protests

Former security minister Ambrose Lee Siu-kwong came under fire yesterday for comments he made connecting the Occupy protests with the Kowloon Peak kidnapping incident.

Speaking to the media after an appearance on a DBC radio show yesterday, Lee, a local deputy to the National People's Congress, said these "big thieves" benefited from radical protesters who nurtured a sense of lawlessness in the city.

While police were searching across the city for six suspected kidnappers on the loose with HK$28 million ransom cash, Lee said such cases were rare in recent years and expressed hope that this was an isolated case.

He then turned to criticising protesters. "Very often, we can see that some members of the public - people who resort to radical protests - challenge the rights for the police to enforce the law [and] smear the police's reputation. In the long run this is not in line with the well-being of Hong Kong people.

"When people grow disrespectful of the police's law enforcement, arousing a concept of incompliance with the law, in the long run this only benefits such big thieves, people who disrupt Hong Kong's rule of law," Lee said.

Democratic Party lawmaker James To Kun-sun, a member of the Legislative Council's panel on security, lambasted Lee's comments.

"I could understand if someone else tried to connect the kidnap with protesters. But when Ambrose Lee did that, it is unbelievable," To said.