Hong Kong protests: legal challenge stops police watchdog from publishing review into officers’ behaviour during unrest
- Independent Police Complaints Council had been expected to make first report public in late January or February
- But judicial review means it now cannot be released until court proceedings have finished
Hong Kong’s police watchdog cannot publish an interim review over the force’s handling of protests in February as scheduled because an ongoing court case has left it in legal limbo.
The Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) revealed the news to its governing council members during a private meeting on Thursday, dealing a blow to city leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s previous pledge that the review would be published by late January or early February.
The first phase of what was called a “fact-finding” exercise has looked into clashes between anti-government protesters and police on June 9 and 12, and July 1. It remains unclear when the entire review, covering the dates from July onwards, would be completed.
A source said that until legal proceedings had been resolved “the report just cannot be published”.
And, in a statement on Thursday night, the IPCC said the governing council “unanimously resolved at the meeting to postpone the decision on the publication of the interim report. until after the delivery of judgment in the judicial review.”