Just as in January, before passage of funding for the high-speed railway construction, some youngsters have again vowed they will surround the Legislative Council building during debate of the constitutional reform package on the evening of June 23. Little do they know that there is a legal limit to what they can do, and should they behave the way they did last time, they are liable to commit several criminal offenses under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance.

Section 19 of the Ordinance stipulates: "Any person who - (a) assaults, obstructs or molests any member going to, being within or going from the precincts of the Chamber, or endeavors to compel any member by force or menace to declare himself in favor of, or against any motion or matter pending before the Council or a committee; or (b) assaults, interferes with, molests, resists or obstructs any officer of the Council while in the execution of his duty; or (c) tampers with, deters, threatens, molests or in any way unduly influences any witness in regard to any evidence to be given by him before the Council or a committee; or (d) threatens, molests or in any way punishes or injures or attempts to punish or injure any person for having given evidence before the Council or a committee or on account of any evidence which he has given before the Council or a committee, commits an offence and is liable to a fine of HK$10,000 and to imprisonment for 12 months."

Section 20 stipulates: "Any person, other than a member or officer of the Council, who - (a) enters or attempts to enter the Chamber or the precincts of the Chamber in contravention of any of the Rules of Procedure or any resolution under section 8(2); or (Amended 71 of 2000 s. 3) (b) contravenes any administrative instructions issued under section 8(3), or any direction given thereunder, regulating the admittance of persons to or the conduct of persons within the Chamber or the precincts of the Chamber, commits an offence and is liable to a fine of HK$2,000 and to imprisonment for three months."

I quote the above sections in full so that there should be no misunderstanding or ignorance of the law on the part of any party on that evening concerning the gravity of the situation; and I urge our police to execute their legal duties to uphold law and order in the SAR, and to protect the dignity and authority of its legislature from being assaulted.

The author is a member of the Commission on Strategic Development.

(HK Edition 06/22/2010 page2)