Hong Kong police to put Victoria Park on lockdown, deploy 7,000 officers across city amid calls to attend banned Tiananmen vigil

About 3,000 officers will be stationed on Hong Kong Island, including near the park site in Causeway Bay and Beijing’s liaison office in Sai Ying Pun

Others will be in Mong Kok, where the June 4 museum originally intended to observe the anniversary before it was forced to close amid a licensing probe

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Victoria Park’s football pitches will be off limits on Friday. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Published: 7:01pm, 3 Jun 2021Updated: 9:33pm, 3 Jun 2021

Police will for the first time ever use Hong Kong’s Public Order Ordinance to close part of Victoria Park on Friday and deploy about 7,000 officers across the city to deal with any possible unauthorised gatherings on the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, force insiders have said.

The security measures were finalised on Thursday amid online appeals for people to turn up at the Causeway Bay park to observe the annual candlelight vigil despite police banning it for a second year in a row on public health grounds, according to one source.

Earlier this week, the force said it planned to deploy more than 3,000 officers to handle any eventuality, then later more than doubled the manpower after carrying out a risk assessment.

The deployment of 7,000 officers is about 3,000 fewer than the number mobilised in 2017 when President Xi Jinping and other state leaders came to Hong Kong to mark the 20th anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese sovereignty.

A police van is seen parked at Hong Kong’s Victoria Park on Thursday. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

“The manpower is for the whole city, and about 3,000 of them will be stationed on Hong Kong Island to enhance security around Victoria Park and other high-risk locations, such as Beijing’s liaison office in Sai Ying Pun,” a police source said.

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