Request regarding the manner in which the current protests are dealt with

Victor Alamercery made this Freedom of Information request to Security Bureau

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Dear Hong Kong Security Bureau,
I have a few question regarding the 2019 protests

1) Arrests related to the protests (since June)
 In terms of demographics : what age categories, gender, socio-economic categories ?
 How many arrests led to legal proceedings (as opposed to short detention in custody)
 Statistics of legal grounds pressed against protesters (riot? Assault? Arson? Criminal Damage? Weapons possession? Unlawful assembly?)
 What were the 5 distinct events (or days) in which the most arrests were made ?

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 made during Anti-establishment events and Pro-establishment events respectively ?
 How many people were prosecuted following the Yuen Long events on 21st/22nd of July, 2019 ?

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

4) Injuries
 How many protesters were injured according to your data?
 How many policemen were injured ?
 How many severe injuries (as opposed to superficial and non-permanent) have been recorded?
 How many fatalities on both sides have been recorded?

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) ?
 Have there been any new anti-riot means deployed in the last 6 months ?

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

8) Do you have any official statistics on vandalism related to the protests ?

I thank you in advance
Yours faithfully,

Victor Alamercery

Dear Mr Alamercery,
I refer to your applications for access to information to the Department
of Justice and Security Bureau dated 16 December 2019. We are processing
your applications and shall let you have a substantive reply as soon as
possible.

Yours sincerely,
Irene Kwok
for Secretary for Security

From: Victor Alamercery <[FOI #433 email]>
To: FOI requests at Security Bureau <[Security Bureau request email]>,
Date: 16/12/2019 23:06
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Request regarding the
manner in which the current protests are dealt with

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Dear Hong Kong Security Bureau,
I have a few question regarding the 2019 protests

1) Arrests related to the protests (since June)
 In terms of demographics : what age categories, gender, socio-economic
categories ?
 How many arrests led to legal proceedings (as opposed to short detention
in custody)
 Statistics of legal grounds pressed against protesters (riot? Assault?
Arson? Criminal Damage? Weapons possession? Unlawful assembly?)
 What were the 5 distinct events (or days) in which the most arrests were
made ?

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 made during Anti-establishment events and
Pro-establishment events respectively ?
 How many people were prosecuted following the Yuen Long events on
21st/22nd of July, 2019 ?

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

4) Injuries
 How many protesters were injured according to your data?
 How many policemen were injured ?
 How many severe injuries (as opposed to superficial and non-permanent)
have been recorded?
 How many fatalities on both sides have been recorded?

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) ?
 Have there been any new anti-riot means deployed in the last 6 months ?

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

8) Do you have any official statistics on vandalism related to the
protests ?

I thank you in advance
Yours faithfully,

Victor Alamercery

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Dear Mr. Alamercery,
Thank you for your last email. I am authorised to respond to the
questions as follows:

1) Up to December 26, 2019, a total of 6 494 persons were arrested
in public order events relating to the amendments of the Fugitive
Offenders Ordinance, 1 070 persons under the age of 18. The distribution
of the arrested persons by age and sex are as follows:

Male Female
18 or above 4081 1343
Under 18 751 319
Under 16 287 125

Amongst these arrested persons, a total of 1 030 were prosecuted, aged
between 12 and 76. The distribution of the prosecuted persons by age and
sex are as follows:

Male Female
18 or above 753 165
Under 18 82 30
Under 16 25 7

Riot, Possession of offensive weapons, Unlawful assembly, Assaulting
Police Officer and Criminal Damage were the top five charges laid against
the arrestees: (Please note the persons may be charged with more than one
offence)

Charge No. of persons charged
(i) Riot 547
(ii) Possession of offensive weapons 132
(iii) Unlawful assembly 120
(iv) Assaulting Police Officer 70
(v) Criminal Damage 62

Security Bureau does not maintain other requested statistics.

2) Up to December 26, 2019, a total of 37 persons were arrested in
connection with the Yuen Long incident occurred on July 21. Seven of them
were prosecuted with "Riot"

Security Bureau does not maintain other requested statistics.

3) According to Public Order Ordinance (Cap. 245), any interested
group who intends to hold a public meeting of more than 50 persons, or
public procession of more than 30 persons is required to notify the
Commissioner of Police. The Commissioner of Police may prohibit the
holding of any notified public meeting or object to a public procession
being held 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.

The breakdown of notifiable public order events applications as follows:

Between 2019-06-01 and 2019-12-31 No.
Public Order Events Notified to CP 537
Public meetings prohibited by CP 26
Public Procession objected by CP 21

4) Serious violent and illegal acts since June 2019 have already
resulted in the death of an innocent member of the public who was killed
by a brick hurled at him. Up till December 2019, over 2 600 persons were
injured and sought medical consultation or received treatment at public
hospitals, including a victim seriously burnt by a rioter who ignited
flammable liquid on him. More than 550 of the injured persons were police
officers who suffered from knife wounds, corrosive liquid burns,
fractures, severe burns, wounds inflicted by bows and arrows, etc.

5) The Police will not disclose specific operational details as it
may affect the effectiveness of the Police's operations. The Police
stress that the target of their law enforcement actions is to uphold the
rule of law.

6) Members of the public enjoy the freedoms of expression, speech
and assembly, but they must abide by the law. If the public express their
views in a peaceful and lawful manner, there is no need for the Police to
use any force. It is the statutory duty of the Police to maintain public
safety and public order. Therefore, if any unlawful act occurs, the Police
must take appropriate actions to restore public peace. The Police have
strict guidelines on the use of force. To restore public peace, the
Police will need to deploy appropriate force against violent illegal acts
based on actual needs. Police officers will only use appropriate force
when it is necessary. Such force is used in response to the prevalent
situation, and the place and the level of force used depend on the level
of violence committed by rioters and the then circumstances at the scene.
To control the scene and disperse violent persons, police officers at the
scene will make professional assessment and judgement having regard to the
situation at the time and decide on the different levels of force as
appropriate, including the use of non-lethal weapons such as pepper
sprays, tear gases, bean bag rounds, rubber bullets, pepperballs and
specialised crowd management vehicles (SCMVs) for lawful discharge of
their duties.

7) Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) is an independent
statutory body. You may wish to approach IPCC direct on your enquiry.

8) The Police had not maintained any breakdown of "Criminal Damage"
cases on account of reasons relating to protests. Nevertheless, you may
wish to refer to the attached link "Damage and impacts caused by violent
protests since June 2019"
[1]https://www.isd.gov.hk/response2019/eng/... for
information.
Yours sincerely,

Irene Kwok
for Secretary for Security

From: SB-AIOREQ/SB/HKSARG
To: Victor Alamercery <[FOI #433 email]>,
Date: 03/01/2020 17:11
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Request regarding the
manner in which the current protests are dealt with