Hong Kong held the first authorized protest on Sunday against the government since lifting of major COVID-19 restrictions over the proposal for reclamation in the district for construction or relocation of obnoxious facilities, according to The Standard, A Hong Kong-based free newspaper.
According to the Hong Kong-based newspaper, a group of Tseung Kwan O residents protested after the announcement by the Metro Town Owners Committee to oppose the government’s plan to use Area 132 in Tseung Kwan O for reclamation to accommodate several public facilities, including a refuse treatment plant and a cement plant. In the protest, less than a hundred of people came to participate under the strict observation of about 30 police officers.
In the protest, demonstrators were required to wear numbered lanyards and were barred from wearing masks.
Cyrus Chan, one of the march organizers, said demonstrators had communicated with police on their promotional materials and slogans. He said officers had told him that participants should not wear all-black outfits, The Standard reported.
The demonstration started with a gathering in a park next to Tiu Keng Leng Sports Centre at 11 am. Participants chanted slogans against the reclamation project as they marched in the rain with banners and finished before 1 pm at Tseung Kwan O South Landing.
Responding to the protest, the Development Bureau said the project was intended to “support the daily needs of the community”. It said it would “respect the right to freedom of expression” and would study the possibility of reducing the scale of the land reclamation.
It is one of the first demonstrations to be approved since the enactment of the national security law in 2020. Prior to this on March 5 a protest was held by the Hong Kong Women Workers’ Association was cancelled at the last minute despite obtaining a letter of no objection from the police force, as a police spokesman said some unspecified “violent groups” might join in, reported The Standard.