Civil servants' union slammed for blasting police

The government says civil servants shouldn't criticise government policies or enforcement operations by individual departments. File photo: RTHK

The government has described a social media post by a new civil service staff union that criticised police as "totally unacceptable".



The Union for New Civil Servants, formed after the anti-extradition protests began, said on its Facebook post on Thursday that the force had abruptly ended the protest on Wednesday, demanding that all participants disperse within 30 minutes.



It said it had set up a street booth at Chater Garden to appeal for more civil servants to join the union, but was forced to shut it down after the police cut short the rally and rumours started spreading that water cannon were being deployed.



The union strongly condemned the police for restricting freedom of assembly, and urged the government to respect the rights of its citizens.



The government, for its part, expressed deep concern and regret over the union's remarks on Friday, saying civil servants shouldn't criticise government policies or enforcement operations by individual departments.



It called it “totally unacceptable” that the union had ignored a press release issued by the administration on Thursday, which explained that the New Year’s Day procession was cut short out of public safety considerations.



The administration said it would investigate if there'd been any violation of the Civil Service Code, adding that under the code, all civil servants are required to uphold the principle of political neutrality and serve the Chief Executive and government with total loyalty, no matter what their own political beliefs are.



The role of unions have been brought into limelight after the ongoing protests started in June last year. In July, the Hong Kong Police Inspectors’ Association issued an open letter to Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung, expressing anger and disappointment that he had apologised for the police’s handling of the Yuen Long attacks.



Anonymous angry letters, accompanied by pictures of police warrant cards or badges, also circulated online, urging Cheung to step down and apologise to the force.



The Chief Secretary soon met with various police unions to address their concerns, and later told the public that people should “move forward” and stop “dwelling on the attacks”, saying the Independent Police Complaints Council would investigate the saga.



Critics also say some of the statements issued by some police unions have been overtly political in nature.



The ongoing social unrest has seen trade unions being set up in different sectors to challenge existing ones which are mostly linked to pro-government parties.