Chan Ki-hung, acting chief curator of the Hong Kong Science Museum, shows China Daily reporters on Monday the damage inflicted by protesters who forced their way on Thursday into a meeting hall of the museum where a forum was held. Inset: a close-up shot of a damaged door. Edmond Tang / China Daily

Museum head describes how mobs broke in despite enhanced security

The level of violence among the protesters who disrupted Thursday's forum on the legislative replacement mechanism was the worst that Chan Ki-hung, acting chief curator of the Hong Kong Science Museum, has ever known.

"The behavior of the protesters was totally unacceptable," Chan said as he led China Daily reporters to the scene of the disturbance.

"The damages were not very serious, but those people were very violent. Never before have we seen people gaining entry into our facilities by force and causing injury to our colleagues."

Three female and one male staff, all graded as cultural services assistants, were injured during the melee, he recalled, but no security staff were injured while trying to guard the doors.

The staff members were brought into bodily contact with the protesters, who damaged the doors and broke into the meeting hall.

"We were lucky that our colleagues were not seriously injured as they mostly knocked and bruised themselves," he said.

"The girls were very frightened when they guarded the door as the people forced in. They could have sustained serious injuries as the protesters had hit the staff by their necks and pushed them to the glass."

The injured staff members all have taken a few days off to recover.

The police have classified the incident as a case of criminal damage.

Police officers have obtained statements from all museum staff on duty at the forum that night, and obtained samples of materials from the scene as evidence for further investigation.

As the protesters were trying to gain entry without reserving tickets, one of the steel panels supporting the glass door of the reception area was shaken and has to be temporarily repaired through welding.

A display cupboard next to it was slightly damaged but luckily the glass was not broken. The worst damage was the door of the meeting hall.

"I suspect some people attempted to dismantle the door lock to gain entry. The damaged lock has been taken away by police for forensic examination," Chan said.

As acting chief curator, Chan is not required to be on duty for events such as Thursday's forum.

That night, a duty manager was the officer in charge, assisted by six cultural services assistants and 20 security guards.

Normally 10 security guards are required but their strength was increased to 20 in light of the sensitivity of the forum.

The duties of the cultural services assistants include checking tickets and reception.

"We have learned a lesson and will cater for greater security deployment for future events, depending on the nature of the events, the sensitivity of the attending guests and the number of participants," Chan said.

As the museum provides only the venue for organizations to hold events, he said they will also liaise more closely with the organizers for future events.

joseph@chinadailyhk.com

China Daily

(HK Edition 09/06/2011 page1)