Hong Kong police defend heavy security for China vice premier visit

Aug 18, 2011, 12:30 GMT

Hong Kong - Hong Kong police on Thursday defended the security measures taken during the three-day visit of Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang, dismissing claims that they had overreacted.

Police commissioner Andy Tsang said the measures taken to ensure Li's safety were no different from those taken for any other visiting dignitary, and that there were no political considerations involved.

About 2,000 police officers were deployed each day to cover the visit, during which the 56-year-old Li, who is widely tipped to succeed Premier Wen Jiabao next year, attended various official events and meetings.

Several groups had planned protests, but claimed they were kept at a distance from Li. Students said police prevented them for entering the University of Hong Kong campus where Li was an official guest at the centenary celebrations.

Other protesters, demanding China free political prisoners, tried to get their message across to Li while he was attending the official opening of the new government headquarters, but said they only got as far as a nearby overhead walkway.

The pro-democracy League of Social Democrats said many demonstrations had been suppressed during Li's visit with Chairman Andrew To, saying the right to freedom of expression had been infringed.

The League's Leung Kwok-hung, who took part in the protests at the government headquarters, criticized the police's tactic of keeping protesters in designated areas.

'They are a sort of unfriendly invitation to stop people from voicing demands and keeping them (at) a distance from the target they want to express their feelings to,' he said

Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee defended the police, saying they had not abused their power.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, reverted to Chinese rule in 1997 and has a mini-constitution guaranteeing freedoms of speech and protest denied to people elsewhere in China.

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