PLA are always doing voluntary work: Carrie Lam

PLA are always doing voluntary work: Carrie Lam

The Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, has urged people not to "overinterpret" the People's Liberation Army's move at the weekend to leave their barracks in Kowloon Tong and clear debris from the roads, saying it's quite usual for the troops to carry out "charitable and voluntary activities".



The government says it did not ask the army to help remove bricks and other objects used by protesters to block roads, and the appearance of dozens of soldiers running around with buckets and brooms on Saturday caught the city by surprise.



Article 14 of the Basic Law states that the PLA garrison in Hong Kong must not intervene in local affairs, but the SAR government can ask the central government to deploy the troops for disaster relief or to maintain public order.



While critics say Saturday's move was a breach of the law, Lam said it was nothing unusual.



"I can give you a list of examples of the garrison's participation in such charitable and voluntary activities, like last year when we had Super Typhoon Mangkhut. They came out to help clear the collapsed trees, which of course was much welcomed by the people of Hong Kong," the CE said before going into Tuesday's Executive Council meeting.



"From time to time, they also visit some elderly homes and they arrange training activities for some of our youngsters and so on. So I would suggest that we don't overinterpret this particular act."