- Title: Hong Kong must protect freedom of assembly - U.N. rights office
- Date: 4th October 2019
- Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (OCTOBER 4, 2019) (REUTERS) HONG KONG PROTESTERS GATHERED, WEARING MASKS PROTESTERS WEARING MASKS, HOLDING SIGNS VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING
- Embargoed: 18th October 2019 17:00
- Keywords: Hong Kong politics protests United Nations human rights freedom of assembly Carrie Lam emergency law
- Location: HONG KONG, CHINA / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- City: HONG KONG, CHINA / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- Country: Switzerland
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
- Reuters ID: LVA001AZONTC7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The United Nations human rights office said on Friday (October 4) that any new government measures to cope with protests in Hong Kong must be grounded in law and protect the right to freedom of assembly.
Any use of force should be exceptional and only in compliance with international standards, including the principles of necessity and proportionality, U.N. human rights spokeswoman Marta Hurtado told a Geneva briefing.
Hong Kong's embattled leader Carrie Lam invoked colonial-era emergency powers on Friday for the first time in more than 50 years, in a dramatic move intended to quell escalating violence in the Chinese-ruled city.
Lam said a ban on face masks would take effect on Saturday (October 5) under the emergency laws that allow authorities to "make any regulations whatsoever" in whatever they deem to be in the public interest.
Hurtado, asked about the measures, said: "Any restriction must have a legitimate and formal basis of law and be proportionate and the least intrusive possible."
The use of firearms was only acceptable as a "last resort", and only to protect against an immediate threat, she added.
(Production: Ardee Napolitano) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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