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Transcript of remarks by CE at media session

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, at a media session this afternoon (June 15):

Reporter: Mrs Lam. Is this really, as you suggest, about a misunderstanding? Are so many Hong Kong citizens really that easily confused? Or is this more about a problem that the people of Hong Kong deeply distrust the Central Government in Beijing, and many of them see your government as not really representing them, but representing the interests of the Central Government in Beijing? Thank you.

Chief Executive: First of all, as you will notice, I have not used that term “misunderstanding”. I was saying that we have not done sufficiently to explain and allay fears and concerns. Of course it is difficult for me as the Chief Executive standing here to evaluate the causes of that resistance or fear or concerns about this bill. But I would confess, as I did in a statement on Wednesday, that in the past years or so we have seen this sort of situation where there’s major confrontation, and very often the issue that has given rise to that confrontation has a Mainland dimension. I’m sure you can name a few, and I can name a few. But no matter what, when there is that concern, that fear, I think everyone should be given an opportunity to increase their confidence, to allay their concerns, so that if it is a good thing for Hong Kong then we get it done. This is exactly what happened to the co-location legislation last year. We have a high-speed train, 26 kilometres, that is ready to go, but in order to achieve the effectiveness of a high-speed train in that sort of circumstances, we need co-location of the Mainland and Hong Kong CIQ (Customs, Immigration, Quarantine)facilities. That would necessitate Mainland law enforcement bodies to operate on Hong Kong territory. We went through a very elaborate process, a three-stage elaborate process, to allay the original concerns and fears about that sort of situation where Mainland officers could come down to Hong Kong to enforce the law. You could say that I originally also harboured that sort of wish, that through intensive discussion and explanation and legal safeguards we could overcome that concern and get this good thing done, because the purpose and intent of the legislative amendment has been accepted by many people.  I’m sure BBC, because you are very international, you must have been reporting on a lot of anti-money laundering, anti-terrorist financing.  That sort of legal assistance on a mutual basis between jurisdictions is extremely important.

     On your second question about the position of the Chief Executive, again, if people have the perception about the Chief Executive’s institution – not Carrie Lam herself, but the institution of the Chief Executive – that he or she, being appointed by the Central People’s Government, will only obey the orders of the Central People’s Government, if that is the view then that is a view that does not sit well with the Basic Law – that’s not aligned with the constitutional role of the Chief Executive. Under the Basic Law the Chief Executive has dual accountability. She or he is responsible to the Central People’s Government, but at the same time responsible to the people of Hong Kong, and what is more important, that is in the Basic Law, every act of every person including the Government and the Chief Executive has to be lawful. Even in any sort of situation in a private enterprise, if your boss who pays your salary asks you to do something unlawful, you shouldn’t do it , and you wouldn’t do it. I hope that explains the relationship between the Chief Executive and the Central People’s Government, and I have been adhering faithfully to that constitutional characteristics of this position of the Chief Executive.
 
Reporter: After all the intense and some would say unprecedented opposition and conflicts we’ve seen over the past week because of the extradition bill initiated by your government, do you think that you are still fit to govern the city as the Chief Executive? And will any government officials take the responsibility for this crisis and resign from their position? And secondly, hundreds of thousands of people took to the street asking your administration to withdraw the bill unconditionally. Do you really think that simply by suspending the bill, the people of Hong Kong could be pacified and do you think that suspending the bill will help restore people’s confidence in the Government?
 
Chief Executive: About the first point, as I have repeatedly said and I hope people will appreciate, in doing this legislative exercise, myself and my colleagues were driven by our passion for Hong Kong. We want Hong Kong to do well. If Hong Kong’s justice system and mutual legal assistance regime have some major deficiencies, it is our responsibility to rectify those deficiencies so that Hong Kong could do better when another situation arises. It is also driven by our empathy for the people of Hong Kong. We could easily ignore Mr and Mrs Poon – said sorry, we are very sorry about the death of your girl – but we have empathy for them. We just ask ourselves if the situation happens to my son, John Lee (the Secretary for Security)’s child, what will we do? This is what I call empathy. We have empathy for the people of Hong Kong. And this is not the only occasion as the Chief Executive that I displayed very strongly that empathy for individual people of Hong Kong. With that objective in mind, we have not done a good enough job to convince people and to ensure that this laudable objective could be met. But give us another chance, we will do this bill well if we, in our engagement of people, can get more diverse opinions, and if we can build broader consensus to do it, we’ll do it. But we have other things to do. We have the economy to look after, we have livelihood issues to address. On the former especially we are expecting some downturn in Hong Kong’s economy. That’s where we will continue to perform and deliver for the people of Hong Kong.
 
     The decision I made today is not as described as pacifying people or some people said restoring some of my damaged reputation. That’s not the purpose. The purpose is very simple. People of Hong Kong want a relatively calm and peaceful environment and we did have that relatively calm and peaceful environment in the last two years since I took office. So this is the time, after what you describe as tension, conflicts and so on, for a responsible government, having looked at the situation and the circumstances, to restore as quickly as possible that calmness in society. That is my first consideration. The second consideration is in any confrontations that I have seen on Wednesday, it is very possible that when it recurs again, there will be even more serious confrontations. The 80 or so injuries, generally minor injuries that we have seen, may be replaced by very serious injuries to my police colleagues and to ordinary citizens, whether they are very fierce protesters or just ordinary students joining a protest. I don’t want any of those injuries to happen.  Those are my considerations in announcing that we will pause and think and for the time being suspend and halt the legislative amendment process.
 
Reporter: The question I have for you is: What took so long, given that you knew what public opinion was after the protest last Sunday? Why did you wait so long to come to this decision, and are you nervous about the march planned for tomorrow? Thank you.
 
Chief Executive: Our decision has nothing to do with what may happen tomorrow. As I answered in another question, it has nothing to do with an intention, a wish, to pacify. Why take so long? Actually, if you remember what I said in my account, I acknowledge that last Sunday we had a large number of people coming out. It’s very peaceful, generally orderly. This is part of Hong Kong – we do have that sort of protest from time to time. But it is on Wednesday that the polarization of views in society relating to this bill has given rise to violence, very serious confrontations, people being hurt, police on the ground being forced to take some of those measures. That’s why I came to the view, I told myself that I need to do something decisively to address two issues: how could I restore as fast as possible the calm in society and how could I avoid any more law enforcement officers and ordinary citizens being injured. That was Wednesday to Saturday. Meanwhile, I met with people, because, as you know, in these sort of circumstances you have only one shot.  I need to ask my advisors, I need to think through, our team has to deliberate it within ourselves, and this is my earliest opportunity. Although it is a Saturday, I did not wait until Monday to explain to you the deliberations leading to this decision. I hope you understand.
 
Reporter: So, what details did you give in the emergency meeting with Han Zheng in Shenzhen and what did you tell him? And can you explain why you didn’t withdraw the bill but instead you suspend the bill? And also, why don’t you step down now? Thanks.

Chief Executive: First of all, I could not comment on any meetings I have with anybody if it is not a public meeting. The Chief Executive has her own schedule every day, so I cannot confirm to you whether I have met a particular person during that day if it is not an official meeting that needs to be announced or publicised. If you’re interested in the Central People’s Government’s position and whether they have been informed about my decision, the answer is yes. Since all along they have taken such an understanding, supportive approach towards this local exercise, which is entirely within Hong Kong’s autonomy to do, I feel obliged to report to them that I have now considered all factors and I wish to announce today that we are making a change – we are suspending the legislative work in order to allow more time for communications, explanation, listening of opinions, and then decide on the way forward.  I can tell you that the Central People’s Government adopts the same attitude. They understand, they have confidence in my judgement and they support me. As far as the difference between suspension and withdrawal, I have answered a few times. In very brief terms, it’s because this legislative exercise has very well-intended objectives. One is to deal with the Taiwan case, the other is to rectify the deficiencies in our current regime to deal with mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, and also to allow surrender of fugitive offenders with about 170 other countries and territories without long-term agreement. I hope nobody disputes those two objectives. With those two objectives in mind, withdrawing the bill seems to suggest that even those two objectives were erroneous in the first place, and I cannot accept that, because I think they are the needed objectives. If I may just elaborate a bit, especially for the international audience, to rectify the deficiencies in our regime is something that we have always been asked by the international community to do. One of these international organisations is the Financial Action Task Force on anti-money laundering, comprising the G7 countries, based in Paris. Hong Kong is a member in the name of Hong Kong, China. We are a member, amongst I think 37 members of this group, the FATF. The FATF came to look at our situation and said by and large we’re doing well on various aspects, but there is this aspect which we ranked very low – it’s because you have no extradition arrangement, no mutual legal assistance in criminal matters with the Mainland, Macao and Taiwan – they said you better do it as a matter of priority. That was on our agenda anyway – we have to do something. So at least now I can say I’ve made an attempt, I will tell the FATF next time they come I have made an attempt, somehow we could not deliver it yet, but we will try it again if circumstances permit. The difference between suspension and withdrawal could be explained in that context.

     As far as myself and my team, we will continue to work very diligently and hopefully to achieve the same effect that we have seen since July 1, 2017, that generally society is more peaceful, there’s less tension, people are focusing on the economy and livelihood matters.  Although I would say that even on livelihood matters, especially housing, we have not been doing the best we could to meet people’s aspirations, we will continue to work very hard.
 
Reporter: This bill has spread fear and sparked some of the worst violent protests on this city’s streets since the handover. Are you going to apologise to the people for the damage that you and this bill has caused?
 
Chief Executive: I have repeatedly said in my opening statement and also in response to some questions that this bill has very laudable objectives, not only domestically but also internationally. The enactment of this bill will help to raise Hong Kong’s international profile and also demonstrate that we are a place with excellent rule of law, not only for our own citizens but also in contribution to the combatting of serious crime on a cross-border and transnational basis. With those very laudable objectives, I confess that we have not been as effective as we would like to communicate with the people to justify these very good objectives that are worth doing. And at the same time there are other factors and other circumstances that have given rise to some anxiety and fear and concern. So the best way forward is to pause and think and to find opportunities and time to see whether we could still reach those good objectives as laid down in the bill. That is the approach that I have taken.
 
Reporter: Thank you very much, Chief Executive. Where we were in the protests on Wednesday, we saw excessive police force being used. Someone right next to our team was actually hit in the head, it seemed that the Police were actually targeting protesters in the head and in the torso.  Organisers for tomorrow’s protest have been calling for you to say that they are not rioters and that they want the people who have been arrested to be released. Will you do this? 

Chief Executive: Hong Kong is a very lawful society. I have just mentioned in response to another question that even as the Chief Executive (CE), I have to act lawfully. So I cannot override the law enforcement bodies to decide who should be arrested, who should be released – that is totally unlawful. And if I were to do this, I don’t think many people or investors will continue to trust Hong Kong, because the CE could do anything – to arrest somebody or detain somebody or release somebody. So, no way, I’m not going to interfere into the investigations by the law enforcement bodies and also the prosecution and the judicial proceedings – everything has to be done lawfully. Especially for prosecution and judiciary decisions, they are independently discharged as provided for under the Basic Law. As the Chief Executive I cannot breach the law, let alone the Basic Law, which is such an important constitutional document. On your reference to the use of force, I think everybody who watched the TV news on that day will notice that the Police were doing defensive protection of the Legislative Council Building. What you have been told by the Commissioner of the Police is some – I wouldn’t say all, definitely not all, because we are talking about 40 000 people maybe – some of protesters were quite violent. If you have looked at some of the weapons that the Police had seized, they were not the sort of equipment that one would deploy in a peaceful protest or a peaceful assembly on a social issue. Have you looked at the bricks? Large numbers of bricks, throwing at the Police. Have you looked at some of the cars deliberately being placed in the middle of the road to obstruct traffic? Did you know that one of my Principal Officials was sort of detained for several hours on a road because of the blockade? So I hope that you can take everything into consideration before you come to a conclusion of what the incident was on Wednesday. 
  
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.) 
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East Asia

Crowd safety management measures and special traffic arrangements on Hong Kong Island

     Police will implement crowd safety management measures and special traffic arrangements tomorrow (June 16) to facilitate a public event to be held on Hong Kong Island.

Crowd safety management measures
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     The public event consists of three parts, namely a public meeting at football pitches 1 to 6 and Central Lawn of the Victoria Park, a public procession heading to Central followed by a public meeting in Central.

     The public meeting at football pitches 1 to 6 and Central Lawn of the Victoria Park will commence at 2.30pm and the subsequent public procession will start at 3pm. The public procession will set off to the western and eastern pavements of Legislative Council Road and western pavement of Tim Mei Avenue, venue of another public meeting, via Gate 15 and 16 of the park, Causeway Road, Leighton Road, Irving Street, Pennington Street, Yee Wo Street, Hennessy Road, Queensway, Rodney Street and Harcourt Road.

A. Arrangements for Public Meeting at Victoria Park

    Members of the public participating in the public meeting are encouraged to use public transport to go to the park and enter the football pitches from the west via Gate 6 and 7 (near Sugar Street and Great George Street); or from the east via Gate 14 (Hing Fat Street near Lau Sin Street).

     Participants who wish to enter the park are advised to go to football pitches Nos. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 in sequence to await the start of the procession. When the six football pitches are fully packed with participants, latecomers for the event may gather at the Central Lawn to await setting off the procession. To ensure that the participants of the public meeting enter the park and set off the subsequent procession sequentially, the organiser and their marshals will implement crowd management measure thereat(see diagrams 1 and 2).

    Police and the organiser will adopt a principle of “First come, First go” in order to ensure the procession can set off from the park orderly and in sequence.

     The procession will set off at 3pm or when the participants have occupied about 85 per cent of the six football pitches, whichever is earlier.

B. Arrangements for Public Procession

     The procession will proceed along the westbound carriageway of the procession route and the eastbound and westbound tram lanes along Yee Wo Street, Hennessy Road and Queensway. The eastbound carriageway will be reserved as emergency vehicles access and used by other road users. Police will make decision on the opening of traffic lanes according to the prevailing crowd condition

     The crossing zones outside SOGO Department Store and Paterson Street will be suspended during the procession. Past experience has shown that many procession participants jammed in the procession at these two points, causing obstructions and delay to the main procession from the park. Moreover, it will also affect the traffic at the eastbound carriageway and its function as emergency vehicles access, posing serious risks to public safety and public order. Procession participants are requested not to jam in at these two points. People who intend to cross Yee Wo Street can use the subway of MTR, Sugar Street footbridge and Percival Street footbridge.

     Participants who wish to leave upon arriving or during the public meeting in Central may leave via various directions towards Admiralty or Wan Chai. They should pay attention to the announcements made by the organiser and follow the instructions given by the Police or event marshals for a safe departure.

     To maintain public safety and public order, Police imposed several conditions to the organiser. The conditions include requesting the organiser to appeal to the participants taking part in fund-raising, hawking or any other propaganda activities to ensure that their stalls or temporarily-erected structures would not cause obstructions to the public procession or endanger the safety of the public procession participants or other road users.

     Members of the public going to Admiralty, Wan Chai, Causeway Bay and Tin Hau are encouraged to use public transport. They should follow the instructions given by Police officers or event marshals, and pay attention to the temporary signage displayed on site.

     It is the policy of the Police to facilitate all lawful public order events and it will take measures to ensure public safety and public order. Police wish to co-operate closely with the organiser to facilitate a safe and orderly public event.

     Police appeal to the event participants to remain calm, be considerate and co-operative, as well as to express their views in a peaceful manner.

Special traffic arrangements
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A. Road closure

     The following roads will be closed from 1.30pm until the crowd has dispersed and traffic resumes normal:

1. Gloucester Road U-turn slip road between southbound and northbound Gloucester Road underneath Tai Hang Road flyover;
2. Sugar Street;
3. Southbound Gloucester Road between Victoria Park Road flyover and Causeway Road;
4. If necessary, Great George Street;
5. If necessary, Paterson Street between Gloucester Road and Great George Street;
6. If necessary, Kingston Street; and
7. If necessary, Cleveland Street.

     The following roads will be closed from 1.45pm until the crowd has dispersed and traffic resumes normal:

1. Jardine’s Bazaar;
2. Tang Lung Street;
3. Canal Road East between Russell Street and Hennessy Road;
4. Canal Road West between Sharp Street West and Hennessy Road;
5. Wan Chai Road between Canal Road West and Morrison Hill Road; and
6. Bowrington Road between Sharp Street West and Hennessy Road.

     The following roads will be closed from 2pm until the crowd has dispersed and traffic resumes normal:

1. Westbound Causeway Road;
2. Moreton Terrace;
3. Shelter Street;
4. Eastbound Yee Wo Street slip road leading to westbound Causeway Road;
5. Irving Street;
6. Pennington Street between Keswick Street and Yee Wo Street;
7. Westbound Yee Wo Street;
8. Westbound Hennessy Road;
9. Lee Garden Road between Kai Chiu Road and Hennessy Road;
10. Kai Chiu Road;
11. Yun Ping Road between Lan Fong Road and Kai Chiu Road;
12. Tin Lok Lane between Hennessy Road and Wan Chai Road;
13. Eastbound Johnston Road slip road leading to westbound Hennessy Road;
14. Thomson Road between Johnston Road and Luard Road;
15. Luard Road between Johnston Road and Hennessy Road;
16. Fenwick Street between Hennessy Road and Johnston Road;
17. Westbound Johnston Road between Ship Street and Landale Street;
18. Eastbound Johnston Road between Fenwick Street and Hennessy Road;
19. If necessary, eastbound Hennessy Road;
20. If necessary, eastbound Causeway Road;
21. If necessary, westbound Leighton Road slip road leading to Pennington Street;
22. If necessary, eastbound Yee Wo Street;
23. If necessary, Percival Street between Lockhart Road and Russell Street;
24. If necessary, southbound Canal Road East between Lockhart Road and Hennessy Road;
25. If necessary, southbound Stewart Street between Lockhart Road and Hennessy Road;
26. If necessary, southbound Fleming Road between Lockhart Road and Hennessy Road;
27. If necessary, northbound Fleming Road between Johnston Road and Hennessy Road;
28. If necessary, Thomson Road between O’Brien Road and Fleming Road; and
29. If necessary, Fenwick Street between Lockhart Road and Johnston Road.

     The following roads will be closed from 3.30pm until the crowd has dispersed and traffic resumes normal:

1. Eastbound Queensway between Queen’s Road East and Rodney Street;
2. Westbound Harcourt Road between Harcourt Garden car park exit and Cotton Tree Drive;
3. Southbound Tim Wa Avenue between Lung Wo Road and Harcourt Road, except for vehicles heading for the Chief Executive’s Office and Central Government Offices (CGO) car park;
4. Southbound Edinburgh Place between Lung Wo Road and Connaught Road Central;
5. Southbound Rodney Street;
6. Northbound Garden Road between Lambeth Walk and Harcourt Road;
7. Northbound Garden Road flyover leading to eastbound Queensway;
8. Westbound Harcourt Road service road U-turn slip road;
9. Eastbound Harcourt Road between Tim Wa Avenue and Edinburgh Place;
10. If necessary, Queensway;
11. If necessary, northbound Rodney Street;
12. If necessary, Drake Street;
13. If necessary, Tamar Street;
14. If necessary, southbound Cotton Tree Drive slip road leading to eastbound Queensway;
15. If necessary, southbound Cotton Tree Drive between westbound Harcourt Road and Queensway;
16. If necessary, northbound Garden Road slip road leading to northbound Cotton Tree Drive;
17. If necessary, Murray Road between Harcourt Road and Queensway;
18. If necessary, eastbound Des Voeux Road Central between Pedder Street and Queensway; and
19. If necessary, northbound Ice House Street between Queen’s Road Central and Des Voeux Road Central.

     The following roads will be closed when necessary until the crowd has dispersed and traffic resumes normal:

1. Yacht Street;
2. Lau Li Street between Ngan Mok Street and Hing Fat Street;
3. Electric Road between Lau Sin Street and Tsing Fung Street;
4. Lau Sin Street west of King’s Road;
5. Hing Fat Street between Causeway Road and Lau Sin Street;
6. Northbound Tai Hang Road flyover; and
7. Southbound Percival Street between Gloucester Road and Lockhart Road.

B. Traffic diversions

     The following traffic diversions will be implemented from 1.30pm until the crowd has dispersed and traffic resumes normal:

1. Traffic along southbound Gloucester Road cannot turn right to northbound Gloucester Road underneath Tai Hang Road flyover;
2. Traffic along eastbound Yee Wo Street cannot turn left to Sugar Street;
3. Traffic along southbound Victoria Park Road flyover must turn right to westbound Gloucester Road service road.
4. If necessary, traffic along northbound Tai Hang Road flyover cannot turn left to westbound Kingston Street;
5. If necessary, traffic along southbound Paterson Street must turn left to eastbound Kingston Street;
6. If necessary, traffic along southbound Cleveland Street cannot turn right to westbound Kingston Street;
7. If necessary, traffic along westbound Gloucester Road service road cannot turn left to southbound Cleveland Street and southbound Paterson Street; and
8. If necessary, traffic along westbound Victoria Park Road slip road cannot enter Cleveland Street.

     The following traffic diversions will be implemented from 1.45pm until the crowd has dispersed and traffic resumes normal:

1. Traffic along Pennington Street cannot turn left to Jardine’s Bazaar;
2. Traffic along westbound Hennessy Road cannot turn left to southbound Canal Road East;
3. Traffic along westbound Russell Street must turn left to southbound Canal Road East;
4. Traffic along northbound Canal Road West near Sharp Street West will be diverted to the up-ramp leading to northbound Canal Road flyover;
5. Traffic along eastbound Sharp Street West will be diverted to the up-ramp leading to northbound Canal Road flyover;
6. Traffic along eastbound Sharp Street West cannot turn left to northbound Bowrington Road;
7. Traffic along northbound Bowrington Road must turn right to eastbound Sharp Street West; and
8. Traffic along eastbound Wan Chai Road must turn right to southbound Morrison Hill Road.

     The following traffic diversions will be implemented from 2pm until the crowd has dispersed and traffic resumes normal:

1. Traffic from westbound King’s Road must turn left to southbound Tung Lo Wan Road or turn right to northbound Hing Fat Street;
2. Traffic along westbound Tung Lo Wan Road cannot enter Moreton Terrace;
3. Eastbound Tung Lo Wan Road between St. Paul’s Hospital and Moreton Terrace will be re-routed westbound;
4. Traffic along southbound Tung Lo Wan Road cannot turn left to the re-routed westbound Tung Lo Wan Road between St Paul’s Hospital and Moreton Terrace;
5. Traffic along eastbound Yee Wo Street cannot turn right to southbound Tung Lo Wan Road or westbound Leighton Road;
6. Traffic along northbound Tung Lo Wan Road cannot enter Irving Street and must turn left to westbound Leighton Road;
7. Traffic along Pennington Street must turn right to Keswick Street;
8. Traffic along northbound Yun Ping Road must turn left to westbound Lan Fong Road;
9. Traffic along westbound Leighton Road must turn left to Wong Nai Chung Road, except for franchised buses;
10. Traffic along southbound Percival Street will be diverted to Lockhart Road or eastbound Hennessy Road;
11. Traffic along northbound Tin Lok Lane must turn left to westbound Wan Chai Road;
12. Traffic along northbound Tin Lok Lane cannot turn left to westbound Hennessy Road;
13. Traffic along Stewart Road cannot turn right to westbound Hennessy Road;
14. Traffic along eastbound Johnston Road cannot turn left to westbound Hennessy Road;
15. Traffic along northbound Fleming Road cannot turn left to westbound Hennessy Road;
16. Traffic along eastbound Hennessy Road cannot turn right to southbound Fenwick Street;
17. Traffic along Tai Wong Street East must turn right to eastbound Johnston Road;
18. Traffic along Johnston Road cannot enter Thomson Road;
19. Traffic along Johnston Road cannot enter northbound Luard Road;
20. Traffic along westbound Johnston Road must turn left to Ship Street;
21. Traffic along Lun Fat Street must turn right to eastbound Johnston Road;
22. Traffic along westbound Johnston Road from Landale Street must turn left to Anton Street;
23. Traffic along Queen’s Road East cannot turn left to Landale Street;
24. If necessary, traffic along westbound Leighton Road cannot turn right to northbound Pennington Street;
25. If necessary, traffic along westbound Lockhart Road cannot turn right to Percival Street;
26. If necessary, traffic along Steward Road will be diverted to Lockhart Road;
27. If necessary, traffic along southbound Fleming Road will be diverted to Lockhart Road;
28. If necessary, traffic along Wan Chai Road cannot turn right to northbound Fleming Road;
29. If necessary, traffic along eastbound Johnston Road cannot turn left to Thomson Road;
30. If necessary, traffic along eastbound Johnston Road cannot turn left to Fleming road;
31. If necessary, traffic along eastbound Johnston Road must turn right to Burrows Street; and
32. If necessary, traffic along southbound Fenwick Street will be diverted to Lockhart Road. 

     The following traffic diversions will be implemented from 3.30pm until the crowd has dispersed and traffic resumes normal:

1. Traffic along northbound Justice Drive must turn left to westbound Queensway;
2. Traffic along eastbound Connaught Road Central will be intermittently prohibited from entering the ground level of eastbound Harcourt Road, and must go straight to eastbound Harcourt Road flyover;
3. Traffic along westbound Harcourt Road near Harcourt Garden car park exit will be diverted to westbound Harcourt Road flyover;
4. Traffic along northbound Garden Road must turn left to westbound Lambeth Walk;
5. Traffic along Lung Wo Road cannot enter Tim Wa Avenue, except for vehicles heading for the Chief Executive’s Office and CGO car park;
6. Traffic along Lung Wo Road cannot enter southbound Edinburgh Place;
7. If necessary, traffic along eastbound Queensway cannot turn left to northbound Tamar Street;
8. If necessary, traffic along eastbound Des Voeux Road Central must turn left to northbound Pedder Street;
9. If necessary, traffic along westbound Queen’s Road Central cannot turn right to northbound Ice House Street;
10. If necessary, traffic along northbound Ice House Street must turn left to westbound Queen’s Road Central;
11. If necessary, traffic from United Centre bus terminus must turn left to westbound Drake Street;
12. If necessary, traffic along westbound Harcourt Road cannot turn left to southbound Murray Road;
13. If necessary, traffic along Garden Road flyover cannot enter eastbound Queensway;
14. If necessary, traffic along southbound Cotton Tree Drive will be diverted to southbound Cotton Tree Drive flyover; and
15. If necessary, traffic along eastbound Queensway must turn right to southbound Cotton Road.

     The following traffic diversions will be implemented when necessary until the crowd has dispersed and traffic resumes normal:

1. Traffic along northbound Tai Hang Road flyover must go straight to northbound Victoria Park Road flyover leading to westbound Gloucester Road;
2. Traffic along westbound Gloucester Road service road cannot turn left to southbound Percival Street;
3. Traffic along eastbound Causeway Road cannot turn left to northbound Hing Fat Street; and
4. Traffic along westbound King’s Road cannot turn right to northbound Hing Fat Street.

C. Suspension of parking spaces

     All parking spaces at Hing Fat Street public car park will be suspended from about 10.30am to 8pm.

     Disabled parking spaces at northbound Gloucester Road near Sugar Street, and all on-street parking spaces on Tung Lo Wan Road will be suspended from 10.30am to 8pm.

      All on-street parking spaces, motorcycle parking spaces and disabled parking spaces at eastbound Lung Wui Road opposite to CITIC Tower will be suspended from 12 noon to 11.59pm.

     During the road closure period, vehicles will not be allowed to enter or leave car parks on the closed roads.

     Any vehicles found illegally parked within the precincts of the special traffic arrangements will be towed away without prior notice, and subject to multiple ticketing.

     Actual implementation of the crowd safety management measures and traffic arrangements will be made depending on traffic and crowd conditions in the areas. Members of the public are advised to exercise tolerance and patience and take heed of instructions of the Police on site. read more

East Asia