Hong Kong protests perfect example of why public should not be allowed near government offices, lawyers argue
- Civic Square at Tamar at centre of legal fight for access as case goes to Court of Appeal
- Square is best known as base for students in 2012 who went on hunger strike to force government to scrap Chinese national education curriculum
Lawyers for the Hong Kong government said violent extradition bill protests showed why demonstrators should not be given full access to an area previously popular with marchers.
During a hearing at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, barrister Benjamin Yu SC tried to regain ground after a lower court ruled last year that the failure to open the east wing forecourt of the government’s offices at Tamar – which used to be a popular spot for protests – was unconstitutional.
The space, known to pro-democracy activists as Civic Square, was sealed off with a three-metre-tall fence in September 2014 shortly before the Occupy protests, a massive civil disobedience campaign that saw protesters blocking major roads, began.
Since then, the area has been open to the public, subject to an application, at weekends and on public holidays. Photographer Cheung Tak-wing took the Director of Administration to court for refusing his application on a weekday event and won.
On Wednesday, Yu argued that as long as the director had got the facts and law right, the court should give her a wide “margin of discretion” to make her decision.
“There is always an element of risk she has to manage,” Yu said.