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Maria Tam has insisted the Peoples Liberation Army’s warning to protesters on Sunday was normal. Photo: Nora Tam

People’s Liberation Army warning to Hong Kong protesters ‘not military action’, pro-Beijing heavyweight Maria Tam says

  • On radio, the vice-chairwoman of the Basic Law Committee says it was normal for military personnel to respond to protesters shining lasers
  • But others say the army’s actions were more than just ‘simple acts’
Victor Ting
Pro-establishment heavyweight Maria Tam Wai-chu has defended the Hong Kong garrison of the People’s Liberation Army, saying its warning to anti-government protesters did not amount to military action.
Tam, vice-chairwoman of the Basic Law Committee, said it was normal for military personnel – stationed at the Kowloon Tong barracks – to respond to protesters shining lasers at the PLA building on Sunday night.
A PLA soldier holds a yellow placard to warn anti-government protesters during a demonstration on October 6. Photo: Reuters
The army raised a yellow flag at the top of the building, warning demonstrators: “You are in breach of the law. You may be prosecuted”. Several men in uniform were seen filming protesters and a floodlight was shone from the PLA building. The tense moment passed without confrontation.

“My view is, the raising of a warning flag is a normal act,” Tam said on a local radio programme on Monday.

“If someone disturbs you, you tell them to stop. I don’t think this is a military action, and I don’t think it will escalate to one.”

It was the first warning from the PLA since anti-government protests, triggered by the now-withdrawn extradition bill, began nearly four months ago.

According to Article 8 of the Hong Kong garrison law, members of the local garrison can “take measures to stop any activities that hinder them from performing their duties in accordance with the provisions of laws applied in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region”. Guards of the military forbidden zones also have the power to stop unauthorised entry, destruction or endangerment of military installations.

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But the same law also says the garrison shall not interfere in the city’s local affairs.

Tam said there was precedent for a PLA garrison to get involved in local affairs, citing the Chinese army’s relief and cleaning operations in Macau after Typhoon Hato in 2017 .

The Beijing loyalist said she was “100 per cent sure” the Hong Kong government and police could maintain public order in the city.

Tam’s comments came after Tanya Chan, convenor of the pan-democratic bloc in the Legislative Council, voiced scepticism over the military’s actions.

“The PLA garrison is a very disciplined force. The warning message spoken on a microphone and the raising of a flag by people in military uniform are not simple acts,” she said earlier on the radio programme.

“They are clearly discharging an official duty, not just communicating a message.”

Chan said the army was not a law enforcement agency in the city, but whether their actions on Sunday were as such would ultimately be decided by mainland authorities, under the mainland’s garrison law.

If the atmosphere is peaceful, the government will say the anti-mask law has worked. But if there is more unrest, it will say we need tougher law
Tanya Chan

“I am quite worried because the situation seems to have deteriorated rapidly after October 1. People should be very restrained and careful.”

Chan criticised the new anti-mask law, which came into effect on Saturday, for provoking unrest over the weekend. She said it might be a trap set by the government to introduce more draconian laws to restrict personal freedoms.

“If the atmosphere is peaceful, the government will say the anti-mask law has worked. But if there is more unrest, it will say we need tougher laws.”

Chan, one of the 24 legislators challenging the law in a judicial review, said the law was unconstitutional because it bypassed the Legislative Council process.

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Tam, however, defended its legality, saying there were three sources of law in Hong Kong: the Basic Law, laws made by the Legislative Council, and laws pre-existing the 1997 handover such as the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, through which the anti-mask regulation was made.

“It was also not as ancient a piece of legislation as people thought, as it was amended by Legco in 1999, which did not curtail the chief executive’s power to make laws under these circumstances,” Tam said.

She added that it was too soon to assess the anti-mask law’s effectiveness against months of unrest.

When asked whether the law will force victims of injustice, or minorities such as LGBT people, to unmask themselves at public rallies, she said it was better for individuals to do so to “save the trouble” of having to defend themselves.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: PLA warning was not military action, loyalist says
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