rthk.hk - Express NewsToday, 09:25
Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen. Photo: RTHK
Former security secretary Regina Ip. File photo.
The Secretary for Justice, Rimsky Yuen, said on Friday that the Department of Justice would consider whether further charges should be laid against 37 people who appeared in court on Thursday in connection with Monday night’s riot in Mong Kok.
Yuen described the violence as a serious challenge to Hong Kong’s rule of law.
“The Department of Justice takes this matter very seriously. We will work closely with the police. We will scrutinise the evidence and we will decide whether there are other charges we need to consider.”
Meanwhile, former security secretary Regina Ip warned that such violent protests could bring an end to the “One Country, Two Systems” principle.
The executive councillor and New People’s Party legislator was responding to a claim from a localism supporter that unless the root cause of people's anger is addressed, protests will only get more violent, possibly escalating to the point where people die.
Ip told RTHK she found the prospect frightening:
“He’s saying that the students, or these young radicals, will step up the violence with a view to forcing the police to fire shots and then leading to a breakdown of law and order. And maybe forcing the Beijing authorities to deploy the People’s Liberation Army if the police were unable to deal with the violence. And that would mean the end of “One Country, Two Systems.”
A policeman fired two warning shots during the disturbances on Monday night. More than 100 people were injured in the clashes, most of them police officers.
http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1241745-20160212.htm
