Special traffic arrangements and crowd safety management measures on Hong Kong Island on January 1

     Police will implement special traffic arrangements and crowd safety management measures to facilitate a public order event to be held on Hong Kong Island on January 1, 2019 (Tuesday).

Crowd safety management measures
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     The public event consists of three parts, namely a public meeting commencing at 2pm at East Point Road Pedestrian Precinct and Lockhart Road Pedestrian Precinct, a public procession starting at 3pm heading to Central followed by a public meeting in Central.

     The public procession will pass through Yee Wo Street, Hennessy Road, Queensway, Rodney Street, westbound Harcourt Road, Cotton Tree Drive, eastbound Harcourt Road and Tim Mei Avenue for a public meeting at the Central Government Offices (CGO) East Wing Forecourt and designated public activity areas at western pavement of Tim Mei Avenue.
     
     Participants who wish to leave upon arrival or during the public meeting in Central may leave via various directions towards Admiralty or Wan Chai. For safety reason, if the venue of public meeting is saturated, other participants arriving at a later stage should leave via the same directions. They should pay attention to the announcement made by the organiser and follow the instructions given by Police officers, staff of CGO or event marshals on site.

     To maintain public safety and public order, Police will impose 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 and Causeway Bay are encouraged to use public transport. They should follow the instructions of Police or event marshals and pay attention to the temporary signage displayed on site.

     It is the Police’s policy to facilitate all lawful public order events. Police will take effective measures to ensure public safety and public order and engage the organiser to garner their full co-operation.  Participants are advised to express their views in a peaceful manner.

Special traffic arrangements
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     The following special traffic arrangements will be implemented in phases until the crowd has dispersed and traffic resumes normal:

A. Road closure

From about 1.30pm

– If necessary, Great George Street;
– If necessary, Paterson Street between Gloucester Road and Great George Street;
– If necessary, Kingston Street;
– If necessary, Cleveland Street;
– If necessary, Cannon Street;
– If necessary, Lockhart Road east of Percival Street, except for green minibuses (GMBs);
– If necessary, Jaffe Road east of Percival Street, except for GMBs.

From about 2pm

– Leftmost lane of westbound Yee Wo Street;
– Leftmost lane of westbound Hennessy Road;
– Jardine's Bazaar;
– Tang Lung Street;
– Canal Road East between Russell Street and Hennessy Road;
– Canal Road West between Sharp Street West and Hennessy Road;
– Wan Chai Road between Canal Road West and Morrison Hill Road;
– Bowrington Road between Sharp Street West and Hennessy Road;
– Lee Garden Road between Kai Chiu Road and Hennessy Road;
– Kai Chiu Road; and
– Yun Ping Road between Lan Fong Road and Kai Chiu Road.

From about 3pm

– Southbound Rodney Street;
– Westbound Harcourt Road between the exit of Harcourt Garden car park and Cotton Tree Drive;
– All lay-bys along Tim Mei Avenue and Lung Wui Road;
– The unnamed road outside ex-Hong Kong Red Cross Headquarters; and
– If necessary, southbound Tim Wa Avenue between Lung Wo Road and Harcourt Road.

B. Traffic diversions

From about 1pm

– If necessary, traffic along northbound Tai Hang Road flyover cannot turn left to westbound Kingston Street;
– If necessary, traffic along southbound Paterson Street must turn left to eastbound Kingston Street;
– If necessary, traffic along southbound Cleveland Street cannot turn right to westbound Kingston Street;
– If necessary, traffic along westbound Gloucester Road service road cannot turn left to southbound Cleveland Street;
– If necessary, traffic along westbound Gloucester Road service road cannot turn left to southbound Paterson Street;
– If necessary, traffic along slip road leading from westbound Victoria Park Road cannot enter Cleveland Street;
– If necessary, traffic along eastbound Lockhart Road must turn right to Percival Street, except GMBs;
– If necessary, traffic along northbound Cannon Street cannot turn left to westbound Jaffe Road, except GMBs;

From about 2pm

– Traffic along northbound Pennington Street cannot turn left to Jardine's Bazaar;
– Traffic along westbound Hennessy Road cannot turn left to southbound Canal Road East;
– Traffic along westbound Russell Street must turn left to southbound Canal Road East;
– Traffic along northbound Canal Road West near Sharp Street West will be diverted to the up-ramp leading to northbound Canal Road flyover;
– Traffic along eastbound Sharp Street West will be diverted to the up-ramp leading to northbound Canal Road flyover;
– Traffic along eastbound Sharp Street West cannot turn left to northbound Bowrington Road;
– Traffic along northbound Bowrington Road must turn right to eastbound Sharp Street West; and
– Traffic along eastbound Wan Chai Road must turn right to southbound Morrison Hill Road.

From about 3pm

– Traffic along westbound Harcourt Road near the exit of Harcourt Garden car park will be diverted to westbound Harcourt Road flyover;
– Traffic from United Centre Bus Terminus must turn left to westbound Drake Street;
– If necessary, traffic along eastbound Harcourt Road cannot turn left to northbound Tim Mei Avenue;
– If necessary, traffic along Lung Wo Road cannot enter Tim Wa Avenue, except for vehicles accessing Chief Executive’s Office and CGO car park; and
– If necessary, traffic along Lung Wo Road cannot turn to southbound Edinburgh Place.

C. Suspension of on-street parking spaces

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

     Vehicles will not be permitted to leave or enter car parks at the affected areas during the road closure period.

     Any vehicle found illegally parked within the precincts mentioned above will be towed away without prior warning or subject to multiple ticketing.

     Actual implementation of the 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.




Company and directors fined and sentenced to suspended imprisonment for wage offences and default on Labour Tribunal Award

     Can Build Management Limited and its two directors were prosecuted by the Labour Department (LD) for failing to pay wages to employees and defaulting on the sums awarded by the Labour Tribunal (LT). The company and its directors earlier pleaded guilty at Eastern Magistrates' Courts and were sentenced today (December 28). The company was fined a total of $610,000, while its directors were each fined $610,000 and sentenced to three months' imprisonment suspended for three years.

     The company failed to pay five employees the awarded sum totalling about $1,500,000 within 14 days after the date set out by the terms of the LT award in accordance with the Employment Ordinance (EO). The company also failed to pay one employee her wages and payment in lieu of notice within seven days after the termination of employment. The two directors were convicted for their consent, connivance or neglect in the above offences.  

     "The ruling helps disseminate a strong message to all employers and responsible officers of companies that they have to pay wages and termination payments to employees within the time limit stipulated in the EO and the awarded sums according to the LT or Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board," a spokesman for the LD said.

      "The LD will not tolerate these offences and will spare no effort in enforcing the law and safeguarding employees' statutory rights," the spokesman added.




Manager of unlicensed guesthouse fined

     A woman was fined $8,000 at the Tuen Mun Magistrates' Courts today (December 28) for contravening the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance.
      
     The courts heard that in June this year, officers of the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA), the Home Affairs Department, inspected a suspected unlicensed guesthouse on Tin Lung Road in Tin Shui Wai. During the inspection, the OLA officers posed as lodgers and successfully rented a room in the guesthouse on a daily basis.
      
     According to the OLA's record, the guesthouse did not possess a licence under the Ordinance on the day of inspection. The woman responsible for managing the premises was charged with contravening section 5(1) of the Ordinance.
      
     A department spokesman stressed that operating or managing an unlicensed guesthouse is a criminal offence and will lead to a criminal record. Upon conviction, the offender is liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and two years' imprisonment.
           
     The spokesman appealed to anyone with information about suspected unlicensed guesthouses to report it to the OLA through the hotline (Tel: 2881 7498), by email (hadlaenq@had.gov.hk), by fax (2504 5805) using the report form downloaded from the OLA website (www.hadla.gov.hk), or through the mobile application "Hong Kong Licensed Hotels and Guesthouses".




Transcript of remarks by CS (with video)

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, at a media session after attending the "Opportunities for Youth Development in the Greater Bay Area" Youth Forum today (December 28):
 
Reporter: So what do you want to say about criticisms of Ms Cheng not following Prosecution Code?

Chief Secretary for Administration: I think the Secretary for Justice had made it quite clear in her media stand-up on return from leave at the airport. I want to make three points. First of all the Basic Law itself, Article 63 stipulates clearly that it is the role of the Department of Justice to conduct prosecution independently in Hong Kong without any interference. This is very important. The second point is that I think we should respect the professional judgement of the Department of Justice. And finally, as stated by the Secretary for Justice in her media stand-up, she will consider seriously the possibility of attending the Legislative Council panel on judicial administration and legal services scheduled for January 28 next year, okay. I really want the community to respect the professional judgement of the Department of Justice on this particular case.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)




Appointments to Basic Law Promotion Steering Committee

     The Government today (December 28) announced the appointment of four new members and the re-appointment of three incumbent members to the Basic Law Promotion Steering Committee (BLPSC) for a term of two years with effect from January 1, 2019.

     The four new members are Ms Teresa Au Pui-yee, Dr Wendy Hong, Ms Clara Shek Ka-lai and Mr Clement Woo Kin-man.

     The three re-appointed incumbent members are Mr Thomas Cheung Tsun-yung, Mr Johnny Mok Shiu-luen, SC and Dr David Wong Yau-kar.

     The BLPSC thanked outgoing members Mr Peter Ho Siu-ping, Ms Elaine Ma Kwai-yee and Professor Wang Guiguo for their contributions and dedication to the work of the BLPSC during their term of service.

     The BLPSC was established in January 1998. It provides the necessary steer on the overall programme and strategy for promoting the Basic Law, and provides an organisational focus for co-ordinating the efforts of various parties concerned, both in the Government and in the community.

     Following is the membership list of the BLPSC with effect from January 1, 2019:

Chairperson
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Chief Secretary for Administration

Non-official Members (In alphabetical order of family names)
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Ms Teresa Au Pui-yee
Ms Karen Chan Ka-yin
Mrs Viola Chan Man Yee-wai
Mr Thomas Cheung Tsun-yung
Mr Henry Ho Kin-chung
Dr Wendy Hong
Mr Lau Ping-cheung
Dr Simon Hoey Lee
Mrs Clarie Lo Ku Ka-lee
Mr Thomas Lo Sui-sing
Ms Esther Ma
Mr Johnny Mok Shiu-luen, SC
Ms Clara Shek Ka-lai
Mr Laurence Tang Yat-long
Ms Carol Wong
Dr Wong Kwok-keung
Dr David Wong Yau-kar
Mr Clement Woo Kin-man
Mr Clifton Yeung Kin-chung
Mr Yu Tai Wai

Official Members
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Secretary for Home Affairs
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
Secretary for Education
Secretary for the Civil Service
Director of Home Affairs
Solicitor General
Director of Information Services
Director-General of Trade and Industry