Mass protest arrests 'may lack legal basis'

Both barrister Alvin Yeung and the Civil Human Rights Observer say police must have sufficient grounds for making arrests. File photo: RTHK

Alvin Yeung speaks to RTHK's Priscilla Ng

A human rights group has described the rounding up of more than 400 people during the New Year’s Day anti-government rally as “arbitrary arrests”, while a pro-democracy lawmaker has questioned the legal basis for such mass detentions.



Most of the arrests were made all in one go on Hennessy Road in Causeway Bay, and the police have admitted that some of those detained could have been just innocent bystanders. They say such people will be released after further enquiries.



The police's admission could back up a claim by Civil Rights Observer that three of its team, who were among those arrested, were simply monitoring the demonstration. The three observers will still being held on Thursday, at Aberdeen Police Station.



The founder of the rights group, Icarus Wong, called the arrests of his colleagues “completely unreasonable” and accused the force of violating freedom of information.



Wong added that officers simply had no sufficient reason to conduct the mass arrests.



“We consider that to be arbitrary arrests because the police arrested a lot of not only peaceful protesters, but also bystanders and ordinary citizens who just walked past the road … the police have to be very careful and restrained when using the power to arrest. They must have a clear reason to support the arrests”, he said.



Civic Party leader and barrister Alvin Yeung echoed Wong's comment, saying there must be strong grounds for officers to make arrests.



“For any single arrest conducted by the police, there has to be a ground. Knowing even that the police admitted that there were some arrests that were groundless, then what was the point of conducting these preemptive arrests? It was totally unreasonable and groundless, and I wonder if the police had any instructions or any legal basis to conduct the preemptive arrests”, he said.



Yeung, who’s also a member of Legco’s Panel on Security, said he would definitely demand more information from the police.



He also questioned the police's decision to require all demonstrators to disperse within a short period of time after the force abruptly cut short the protest march on Wednesday.



“Yesterday there was a massive turnout on the streets; we’re talking about over a million people. And giving them 30 minutes or 45 minutes for people to go home? That was completely ridiculous… it was basically like a trap. I cut your protest short, I demand you to go home within an unreasonable amount of time and if you fail to do so, you will be arrested (for participating in an unlawful assembly). Was it not a trap?”, he questioned.



The barrister also told RTHK's Priscilla Ng that a police officer's move to knock off Democratic Party lawmaker Ted Hui’s protective goggles before pepper spraying him might have amounted to an assault. Hui had been urging police to show restraint when the incident happened in Causeway Bay on Wednesday night.