Independent Book Fair Visitors Stopped and Checked; Police Say Joint Operation with FEHD Targeted Street Obstruction
獨立書展參觀者遭截查 警：伙食環打擊阻街
More than 20 publishers have held community reading activities since last week at the former site of Mount Zero Books on Tai Ping Shan Street in Sheung Wan and at nearby shops. Uniformed police officers patrolled and stopped people nearby throughout the seven-day event. On Monday (December 30 last year), officers entered a shop, warned that objects were obstructing the street and recorded the identity card details of a volunteer minding the shop. FEHD and the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department also visited the site. Yesterday, the final day of the event, a reporter observed the area at around noon. A number of people who had visited the bookshops were stopped after leaving and asked to produce their identity cards, including former Hong Kong Journalists Association chairperson Chris Kin Hing Yeung. The reporter was also asked to produce an identity card after raising a camera to take photographs. The police said they had conducted a joint operation with FEHD in Central since late December to combat shops illegally extending their operating areas. FEHD said no relevant situation had been found during the operation. The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department said it had received a report through the 1823 hotline and inspected an electricity box at the bookshop on Tuesday (December 31), finding no problems. The police did not provide the total number of people stopped and searched near No. 6 Tai Ping Shan Street on successive days, or the reasons. Under Section 54 of the Police Force Ordinance, police officers may stop and search a person whose conduct is suspicious or where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the person has committed or is about to commit an offence.
20多間出版社上周起在上環太平山街見山書店原址及附近店舖舉辦社區閱讀活動，7日期間都有軍裝警員附近巡邏及截查，周一（去年12月30日）有警員進店警告有物件阻街及抄下看店義工身分證，另食環署及機電署人員也曾到場。 食環指行動中未發現 昨日為活動最後一天，本報記者約中午到場觀察，不少到訪書店市民離開後被截查及要求出示身分證，包括記協前主席楊健興。記者舉起相機拍攝，也被要求出示身分證。 警方回覆本報說，警方與食環署自12月下旬於中區採取聯合行動，打擊店舖非法擴展營業範圍。食環署稱，行動中未有發現相關情况。機電署回覆，收到市民經1823熱線舉報，周二（31日）到書店檢查電箱，無發現任何問題。 機電署稱接舉報 無發現問題 至於連日在太平山街6號附近截停搜查的總人次及原因，警方則未有提供資料。根據《警隊條例》第54條，警務人員可在任何人行動可疑或有合理懷疑已經或即將干犯任何罪行，可截停搜查。