Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam makes first appearance in a week to reassure under-fire police they have her full support
- Chief executive meets heads of police unions to thank them for staying in their posts and fulfilling their duties under severe pressure
- Lam’s top officials urge protesters not to vent anger against government on frontline police officers
Hong Kong’s embattled leader resurfaced for the first time in a week for a morale-boosting meeting with police union leaders on Thursday, after a six-hour siege of the force’s headquarters the night before by hundreds of protesters demanding she completely withdraw the government’s now-suspended extradition bill.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s office issued a statement announcing she had met the heads of four staff associations representing the city’s 30,000 officers at Government House to assure them of her administration’s full support, and to praise them for showing restraint while under fire from protesters.
“Mrs Lam expressed her heartfelt thanks to members of the force for fulfilling their duties with dedication during the disputes and clashes in society caused by the legislative amendment exercise, striking a balance between the public’s freedom of expression and social order, and maintaining law and order in Hong Kong,” the statement read.
“She said she understands that members of the force and their family members have been put under pressure and that a small number of people even provoked the police intentionally, which is not acceptable.”
The statement was published online with a photograph of Lam that provided the first glimpse of her since June 18, when she apologised for her government’s mishandling of the legislation, which would have allowed the transfer of fugitives to mainland China and other jurisdictions with which Hong Kong has no extradition deal.
Lam’s office also revealed she had met representatives of the education and religious sectors, senior civil servants, foreign diplomats and others over the past few days to explain the latest situation.
Hours earlier, Lam’s No 2, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, and Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu, urged protesters who have targeted police headquarters twice in one week not to vent their anger against the government or law enforcers doing their duty.
Cheung also condemned Wednesday night’s siege of the police base on Arsenal Street, saying: “Hong Kong will absolutely not tolerate any illegal or violent act.”
One protester was arrested and the identities of 60 others suspected of criminal damage were recorded after the siege ended on Thursday morning. Protesters vandalised the building front, defaced the outer walls with obscene graffiti and trapped police inside for six hours.
Lee also decried acts of vandalism and harassment at recent protests, as he met the media alongside police chief Stephen Lo Wai-chung at the compound.
The security minister said that while he, the city’s leader and the justice chief had apologised for deficiencies in the government’s work on the extradition bill, police officers had nothing to do with those failures.
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The police commissioner added: “Apart from managing processions and demonstrations, we are serving the people on a daily basis, handling all kinds of cases ranging from murder to traffic accidents.”
Earlier in the day, more than 100 demonstrators descended on the office of Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, demanding she withdraw the extradition bill altogether and spare arrested protesters from prosecution.
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The protesters were also demanding the retraction of all references to the June 12 clashes as “rioting” as well as an independent inquiry into the police’s use of force.
Rebecca Johnson, founding president of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organisation, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, visited the protesters and told them: “What should be yours must be yours, and no government can take that away.”
The Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissed the protesters’ demands, stating: “All investigations are conducted by law enforcement agencies which will, after investigation and when necessary, refer to the DOJ for independent decisions on whether to prosecute.”
