At the public event in Hung Hom yesterday (August 17), some protestors deviated from the original route as stated in the Letter of No Objection and obstructed roads including Prince Edward Road West and Ma Tau Wai Road. The protestors also smeared the outer walls and gates of buildings nearby, as well as hurled eggs and miscellaneous objects at the buildings.
      
     The protestors then gathered outside Mong Kok Police Station, aimed laser beams and hurled objects at police officers. Traffic was also seriously obstructed after they blocked roads by miscellaneous objects.
      
     Police began dispersal operation at around 7pm after repeated warnings issued to the protestors gathered in Mong Kok went to futile.
      
     At around 7.30pm, a large group of protestors gathered on a footbridge near Mong Kok Road. They hurled an iron bucket, a litter container and miscellaneous objects at police officers and police vehicles under the footbridge. Police officers issued immediate but futile warnings. An iron bucket and a litter container hit the top of the police vehicle and fell onto the ground, seriously threatening the safety of police officers, members of the public and journalists at scene. To protect members of the public, police officers and everyone at scene from threats to life and serious injuries, a police officer shot a bean bag round at the assailant on the footbridge.
      
     During the protests, Hung Hom, Kowloon City, Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui Police Station Report Rooms have once suspended services which affected the emergency services to the public.
      
     Police condemn the protestors’ behaviours which breached public peace. While Police respect the rights to express views peacefully and freedom to participate in public meetings and processions, Police also appeal to protestors to take into consideration public safety and public order.

     Correctional officer at Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre stopped a fight among remand persons in custody today (August 17).

     At 10.47am today, four male remand persons in custody aged between 21 and 48 were found fighting inside the Dayroom. Officer at the scene immediately stopped the fight and called for reinforcement.

     During the incident, one remand person in custody sustained injury to his head. He was referred to a public hospital for further examination and treatment after the treatment by the institution Medical Officer. The other three remand persons in custody did not sustain any injury.

     The case has been reported to the Police for investigation.

     The four persons in custody were remanded for the offences of robbery and trafficking in a dangerous drug respectively.

     In response to the protests today (August 17), a Government spokesman said the following:

     In the protest in Kowloon City District today, some protesters deviated from the route approved by the Appeal Board on Public Meetings and Processions and specified on the Letter of No Objection, occupying roads in Kowloon City District and Yau Tsim Mong District for their procession and blocking the traffic. Some protesters vandalised the office of members of the Legislative Council and district facilities of an organisation along the way. Some people also assembled outside a police station and hurled objects at it. We condemn these illegal acts which challenge the rule of law in Hong Kong and breach the public peace.

     The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, today (August 17) was briefed by the Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, on the preparatory work of the Education Bureau (EDB) for the commencement of the new school year.
 
     The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung; the Permanent Secretary for Education, Mrs Ingrid Yeung; and the Under Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin also attended the meeting.
 
     At the meeting, Mr Yeung reported that the EDB has been meeting representatives from the education sector, including school sponsoring bodies, school councils, school heads associations and educational bodies, to understand their concerns and listen to their views, with a view to promptly responding to their concerns as well as providing appropriate assistance and guidelines for them to prepare for the commencement of the school year in a timely manner.
 
     Mrs Lam and Mr Cheung had learnt that the EDB, schools and school sponsoring bodies have been and will be working on a number of issues, including the potential traffic problems at the beginning of the school year in early September, helping students resume their learning routines, creating and maintaining a peaceful and harmonious school environment, as well as handling the calls for class boycott.
 
     The Government and the education sector share the common belief that schools are places for students to study. A peaceful and orderly school environment and atmosphere is crucial to students' learning and growth. Schools should not be used by anyone to express political demand as it will not only affect normal school operations but also drag innocent and immature students into political turbulence, losing their normal learning opportunities.
 
     With the approach of the new school year, the EDB and various sectors in the community hope that a peaceful school environment will be restored with normal school operation, and that students will be able to learn in a safe, orderly and professional teaching environment which is free from interferences.
 
     Amid the social incidents in recent months, students' emotion and their peer relationships might also be affected. The EDB believed that school principals and teachers will continue to demonstrate professionalism to help students understand various issues from different perspectives and develop objective and fair analytical skills. Teachers will offer appropriate councelling to students, in collaboration with other professionals as necessary, so as to maintain a caring and harmonious school culture.
 
     Under the current difficult situation, the EDB believed school principals and teachers will maintain their professionalism and put the best interests of all students as their top priority. They will continue to stand fast at their post to teach and protect their students under all circumstances. The EDB will keep close liaison with schools and provide appropriate assistance as and when necessary.
 
     In view of possible traffic problems on the first school day, the EDB and relevant government departments will closely monitor the traffic situation and public transport services and maintain close contact with schools to ensure the smooth start of the new school year.
 
     The EDB reiterated that the HKSAR Government attaches great importance to the nurturing of young people. The Chief Executive in her 2017 Policy Address proposed to carry out in-depth reviews on eight key areas of education. Currently, six of the eight related task forces have completed their work and the government is actively following up on their recommendations. These include injecting $20 billion into the Research Endowment Fund and setting up a $3 billion Research Matching Grant Scheme. Starting from the 2019-20 school year, the "One Executive Officer for Each School" policy and the all-graduate teaching force policy will also be implemented. In addition, the government will provide a recurrent Life-wide Learning Grant, enhance support for students with special educational needs, and provide more vocational and professional education opportunities, so as to enhance the teaching and learning environment.
 
     In the past two years, the current-term Government has increased its recurrent expenditure by at least $8.3 billion for the implementation of a series of education measures. The current-term Government's commitment to quality education will not change in future.
 

Attention duty announcers, radio and TV stations:

Please broadcast the following message as soon as possible and repeat it at suitable intervals:
 
     The report room services of Tsim Sha Tsui Police Station are now temporarily suspended. Police appeal to members of the public not to obstruct the emergency vehicles access so as to avoid affecting the emergency services provided to the public. In case of emergency, please call 999.