Police under fire for attempt to get 'chalk girl' taken away from her family
Lawmakers seek explanation why police sought child protection order - refused by a magistrate yesterday - for 'Lennon Wall' teen
Lawmakers have called on police to explain why they applied for a care and protection order to detain a 14-year-old girl who was arrested for allegedly scribbling graffiti on the "Lennon Wall" at Admiralty but not charged.
Tuen Mun Court magistrate Winnie Lau Yee-wan said yesterday she found there was no need to grant the order after considering the facts of the case and the girl's social welfare report.
"I can understand why the police made the application," Lau said. "However, after reading the social welfare report, I find that it is not necessary to grant the child protection order at this stage."
The magistrate did not give the reasons for her decision.
Later, Civic Party leader Alan Leong Kah-kit said he found the application by police "extraordinary" and "unusual".
He said care and protection was a day-to-day practice in court. But the police did not follow the normal procedure in this case by making the application directly to the court rather than consulting social workers for their opinions first.
"The police ought not to apply for the care and protection order as a method to bring white terror [a term associated with political repression] to a young offender," he said. "I think the police owe the public an explanation."