Hong Kong civil service chief warns of ‘zero tolerance’ for lawbreaking staff, urges employees to shun National Day protests

Patrick Nip sounds call in staff letter, revealing also that 46 workers suspended after arrest or prosecution over illegal public events

Authorities on standby for potential chaos after online calls for radical acts, with planned protest march banned by police

Reading Time:2 minutes

Protesters march on the streets of Hong Kong on October 1 last year. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 4:47pm, 30 Sep 2020Updated: 6:10pm, 30 Sep 2020

Hong Kong’s civil service minister has warned of “zero tolerance” for government workers who break the law, urging the city’s 180,000 public sector employees to stay away from protests on National Day.

In a staff letter on Wednesday, Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen also revealed a total of 46 civil servants had been suspended after they were arrested or prosecuted over illegal public events as of the end of the month.

Authorities are bracing for potential chaos after calls for radical acts surfaced online, aimed at planned demonstrations on Thursday. Police had doubled their deployment to 6,000 officers to counter any illegal activities.

Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip. Photo: Dickson Lee

Police earlier denied permission for a National Day rally planned by opposition activist group Civil Human Rights Front, citing threats to public safety and Covid-19 social-distancing rules that limit gatherings to four per group.

The front said it would not go ahead with the march, but added that from past experience, some protesters would still take to the streets.