'You're being watched': Hong Kong police warn activists planning protests ahead of political reform vote
As tension mounts ahead of vote on electoral reform, senior police officer issues warning to those planning protests or occupations
Online activists who plan to stoke illegal street protests or occupations using social media ahead of next week's landmark vote on political reform have received a stark "you're being watched" warning by police.
Senior officers say it is part of a no-nonsense approach designed to prevent a repeat of last year's Occupy movement while respecting the right to protest.
The warning, delivered by assistant commissioner of police Cheung Tak-keung yesterday, came as he revealed that an ongoing internal investigation into how the police handled last year's Occupy turmoil had changed the way police would approach protests in the run-up to the vote.
"We are still reviewing our operations ... and have taken note of comments from our officers. In this coming operation, we've already introduced some changes and we hope we can do better. The last operation gave us some insight and some ideas on how to improve," said Cheung.
About 50,000 protesters are expected to gather in Victoria Park tomorrow before marching to the Legislative Council headquarters in Admiralty at the start of five days of protests. More than 7,000 police equipped with anti-riot gear have been mobilised as part of the operation codenamed Solarpeak Two.