The Commissioner of the Public Security Police Force has defended his bureau’s decision to ban several protests this year, adding that all decisions were made according to the law.
Yesterday, at the Legislative Assembly plenary meeting, lawmaker Sulu Sou spoke about the police decision to ban the June 4 memorial from taking place this year in Senado Square.
On the night of June 4, PSP officers took two individuals from Senado Square to a police station for interrogation because of their presence at the location.
Sou worries that the police authority has been narrowing the scope of Macau people’s civil rights to demonstrate and form assemblies. Sou also questioned the police authority’s double standards towards two different gatherings. Also in June, a group of 40 participants formally marched from the Macau Science Museum, passing by the Macau Tower, Barra area, Iao Han and more places, spreading their message.
A police authority representative responded to Sou, saying that, between January and June, the PSP received 308 notifications about demonstrations and assemblies, 11 of which were banned.
PSP director Ng Kam Wa denied an increasing trend in taking the decision to ban any protests. Ng said the PSP carried out law enforcement in accordance with the law.
Regarding the gathering in support of Hong Kong’s national security law, Ng said that the PSP believes that the assembly violated the city’s demonstration law and that the department has already prosecuted the concerned individuals.
Despite Ng’s efforts to defend the legitimacy of the PSP’s decisions, lawmaker Ng Kuok Cheong commented that the police department “deprived citizens of their human rights” and “distorted” the meaning of the city’s demonstration law.
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