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Stella Lee

But Dick Lee misses the satirical replay of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony

Police chief Dick Lee Ming-kwai was almost forced to face the music on his first day as commissioner yesterday when activists played Beethoven's Fifth Symphony outside his office to satirise his efforts to drown out protesters by broadcasting the work at the 1997 handover ceremony.

Several activists mounted a loudspeaker outside Police Headquarters in Wan Chai at 9am and played the symphony for almost an hour.

But Mr Lee missed the concert - he arrived at his office at 7.30am but left for a meeting just before 9am, while the activists were still setting up.

Mr Lee has been accused of trying to drown out protesters' chants of 'Down with Li Peng' by broadcasting the symphony outside the Convention and Exhibition Centre, where state leaders were attending the handover ceremony.

Leung Kwok-hung,  a member of the April 5th Action Group, which complained about  the police action six years ago, yesterday demanded that Mr Lee apologise or step down.

'We play the symphony today to reward his playing of Beethoven to drown out our voices at the handover. He should step down if he fails to apologise,' he said.

Mr Leung accused Mr Lee, who was assistant commissioner at the time, of lying when he said the music had been played to 'relieve the atmosphere' and that there was no political motive behind the action.

Former police commissioner Eddie Hui Ki-on  later told the Independent Police Complaints Council  that the symphony was a tactic to protect visiting mainland leaders from embarrassment.

The council upheld the complaint that Mr Lee had overstepped his powers. But while Mr Hui said he respected the judgment, he did not agree that the music was an 'unnecessary use of authority'.

Mr Leung submitted a petition letter later yesterday to Mr Lee's representative, asking the commissioner to step down.

Speaking before he left his office yesterday morning, Mr Lee said he did not wish to discuss the incident further as it was more important to look at the force's policy for handling demonstrations. 'We always abide by the law and aim to upkeep public safety and social order by ensuring that demonstrators can achieve their goals while other members of the public can freely exercise their rights,' he said.

Mr Lee said the need to uphold frontline service standards and officers' morale amid pressure to cut resources was among the challenges he faced. He said the force  had to cut 2.5 per cent of its annual budget over the next two years through measures such as streamlining procedures and merging more police stations.



Activists give new police chief a blast from his past