Dear Sir,
I refer to your request for information under the Code on Access to
Information (the Code) dated 2019-12-16 addressed to this Department.

Operations Wing is now processing and coordinating your request.  In
accordance with the Code para. 1.16, you will be further advised on or
before 2020-01-05.  

Thank you for your kind attention.

Ms Queenie LOO
Senior Executive Officer (Operations)
for Commissioner of Police

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Dear Sir,
I would like to report that your request of 2019-12-16 is being carefully
studied and handled in view of the nature of the requested information.
Also, this Department has recently been engaged in various large-scale
operations and other operational related issues. Due to the above reasons,
we regret that a substantive reply could be not provided to you before the
21st day of receipt of your request.
In accordance with the Code para. 1.18, you will be further advised on or
before 2020-02-04.  

Thank you for your kind attention.

Ms Queenie LOO
Senior Executive Officer (Operations)
for Commissioner of Police

*** This e-mail message (together with any attachments) is for the
designated recipient only. It may contain information that is privileged.
If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any
use, retention, disclosure, copying, printing, forwarding or dissemination
of the message is strictly prohibited. If you have received the message in
error, please erase all copies of the message (including attachments) from
your system and notify the sender immediately. ***
*** 此電郵訊息(連同任何附件)只發送給指定收件人。訊息可能包含享有特權資料。
謹此通知，如你並非預定收件人，嚴禁使用、保留、披露、複製、列印、轉發或發布
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通知發件人。***

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Dear Sir,

Our responses to your request of 2019-12-16 are appended below for your
perusal, please -

1.        Arrests related to the protests (since June)

* In terms of demographics: what age categories, gender, socio-economic
categories ?
From 9 June 2019 to 9 January 2020, Police have arrested 7 019 persons
in total, including 5 229 males and 1 790 females aged between 11 and
84 years old.  The offences involved include taking part in riot,
unlawful assembly, wounding, assault occasioning actual bodily harm,
common assault, arson, criminal damage, assaulting a police officer,
obstructing a police officer in due execution of duty, possession of
offensive weapon, etc.  

Among the 7 019 arrestees, 445 were under the age of 16; while 2 847
were students.  Police do not maintain figure in relation to
socio-economic status of the arrestees.
* How many arrests led to legal proceedings (as opposed to short
detention in custody) and Statistics of legal grounds pressed against
protesters (riot? Assault? Arson? Criminal Damage? Weapons possession?
Unlawful assembly?)

As of 9 January 2020, a total of 1 092 persons were charged with
taking part in riot, unlawful assembly, wounding, assault occasioning
actual bodily harm, common assault, arson, criminal damage, assaulting
a police officer, obstructing a police officer in due execution of
duty, possession of offensive weapon, etc.  The most common charge was
taking part in riot (547 arrestees).

* What were the 5 distinct events (or days) in which the most arrests
were made?

Between June and November 2019, the five dates on which most arrests were
made are as follows :-

Date of Arrest Number of Arrested Person
2019-11-18 1 071
2019-10-01 299
2019-11-11 296
2019-11-02 262
2019-11-19 216

2.        Do you have any breakout of the protests in terms of what cause
they were defending? Number of Pro-establishment protests? Number of
Anti-establishment protests? How many arrests were during
anti-establishment events and Pro-establishment events respectively?

The Department does not maintain the requested figure.

* How many people were prosecuted following the Yuen Long events on
21st/22nd of July, 2019?

As of 9 January 2020, Police have arrested 37 persons in connection with
the Yuen Long events on 21^st/22^nd of July 2019, of which 7 were charged
with taking part in riot.

3.  How many protests applications were accepted? How many were rejected,
and on what legal grounds ?

From Jan to Nov 2019, 799 public meetings and public processions were held
with Letters of No Objection issued while 47 public meetings and public
processions were prohibited or objected.

According to s.9 and s.14 of the Public Order Ordinance, Cap 245, the
Commissioner of Police may prohibit or object the holding of any public
meetings or public processions notified under s.8 or s.13A where he
reasonably considers such prohibition or objection to be necessary in the
interests of national security or public safety, public order or the
protection of the rights and freedoms of others.  

4.         Injuries

* How many protesters were injured according to your data?

The Department does not maintain the requested figure.

* How many policemen were injured?

545 police officers as of 2019-12-31

* How many severe injuries (as opposed to superficial and non-permanent)
have been recorded?

84 police officers as of 2019-12-31

* How many fatalities on both sides have been recorded?

Nil for police officer.  The Department does not maintain the requested
figure for protesters.

5.        Number of policemen in action since the beginning of the
protests Has there been any increase in the deployment of police forces
since the beginning of the protests, if yes, what were their size ?
6.        What anti-repression tools are used by the police (e.g. weapons,
intervention techniques, guidelines)?

The Hong Kong Police Force has the statutory duty to maintain public
safety and public order.  When situations such as illegal blockage of
roads, paralysation of traffic, unlawful assembly, wanton destruction and
violent attacks on people holding different political views occur that
threaten public order and public safety, the Police are legally bound to
take appropriate actions to ensure public safety and public order.  The
Police adopt a strategy of using both hard and soft approaches in the
light of the circumstances, aiming to provide optimal responses for
different scenarios.

The details of the Police deployment, weapons and tactics concern the
operational matters of the Police and the disclosure of such may allow
those with ill intent to disrupt Police’s enforcement actions, thereby
harming or prejudicing the preservation of the peace, public safety or
order, or the preservation of property.  In accordance the paragraph
2.6(f) of the Code on Access to Information, the request could not be
acceded to.

7.        When is the IPCC (Independent Police Complaints Council) report
going to be released?

The first interim report of the IPCC Study was initially to be published
in early 2020.  A social worker filed an application for Judicial Review
(JR) to challenge IPCC’s power to conduct the Study and the High Court
granted leave to the application on 2019-12-20.  On 2020-01-16, IPCC
announced to postpone the publication of the first interim report until
after delivery of a JR judgement.

8.  Do you have any official statistics on vandalism related to the
protests?
Since October 2019, Police received over 1 110 reports, involving over 950
premises being damaged by rioters.  You may visit the Hong Kong SAR
Government’s Facebook page “Tamar Talk” which contains the relevant
information related to the recent protests via this link:
 [1]https://www.facebook.com/TamarTalk.hk/?h...
If you believe that this Department has failed to properly apply any
provision of the Code, you may file an internal review or complain direct
to The Ombudsman.  The Ombudsman’s contact details are as follows:
30/F, China Merchants Tower Shun Tak Centre
168-200 Connaught Road Central Hong Kong
Telephone:        (852) 2629 0555
Fax:                (852) 2882 8149

Thank you for your kind attention.

Ms Queenie LOO
Senior Executive Officer (Operations Wing)
for Commissioner of Police  
 

*** This e-mail message (together with any attachments) is for the
designated recipient only. It may contain information that is privileged.
If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any
use, retention, disclosure, copying, printing, forwarding or dissemination
of the message is strictly prohibited. If you have received the message in
error, please erase all copies of the message (including attachments) from
your system and notify the sender immediately. ***

*** 此電郵訊息(連同任何附件)只發送給指定收件人。訊息可能包含享有特權資料。
謹此通知，如你並非預定收件人，嚴禁使用、保留、披露、複製、列印、轉發或發布
此訊息。如收到誤發的訊息，請把訊息的所有副本(包括附件)從系統內清除，並立即
通知發件人。***

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