Carrie Lam says Hong Kong will use legal means to tackle protests but admits stalemate caused by government’s refusal to meet protesters’ demands
- Speaking before Executive Council meeting on Tuesday, chief executive says Hong Kong police have used minimal force against protesters
- Despite being urged by major figures to address protesters’ two main demands, Lam says this cannot happen because of violence on the streets
Hong Kong’s leader has vowed to tackle the ongoing protests by legal means, adding that police will not respond to violence with more of their own.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor also admitted the crux of the political stalemate lay with the government’s refusal to meet protesters’ demands.
Speaking before meeting her advisers in the Executive Council on Tuesday morning, Lam was asked whether the government was considering invoking the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, as some reports had suggested.
Lam did not give a straight answer.
The ordinance, if invoked, would give the chief executive, in council, the power to “make any regulations whatsoever which he [or she] may consider desirable in the public interest” in times of emergency or public danger.
Such laws could cover a wide range of matters, including censorship, detention and trade.