Roadside stalls weren't rally hazard, watchdog says
Police complaint council says ban on booths could have had 'negative consequences'
Stalls erected along the route of the New Year's Day protest march in defiance of a police ban did not disrupt the flow of marchers, the police watchdog says.
This conclusion was reached after six members of the Independent Police Complaint Council and 14 secretariat staff observed the January 1 rally calling for Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's resignation.
The council also observed that the abrupt way with which the ban was imposed could have provoked protesters to defy it outright instead of appealing against it.
Police had banned the stalls - used mainly by political parties and other groups to seek donations - because it said the stalls posed a high risk to public safety.
Organisers defied the restriction and set up 20 stalls, but officers did not take any action against them.
"A blanket ban on the roadside stalls could trigger negative consequences," council chairman Jat Sew-tong SC said yesterday. He said he hoped that in future, the police would discuss such restrictions with protest organisers earlier and explain why the conditions were imposed.
Andrew Shum Wai-nam, a member of march organiser, the Civil Human Rights Front, said the flow of the march was slow not because of the stalls, but because officers did not reserve enough lanes for their use.