Complaint on "High-volume Beethoven Curtailed Freedom ofExpression" Substantiated

In early June 1998, the Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) upheldthe complaint that Senior Assistant Commissioner of the Police had oversteppedhis power in handling public demontration during the handoverceremony.

During the peaceful protest at the celebration ceremony of the change ofsovereignty on 30 June, 1997, the police played in high-volume of Beethoven'sFifth Symphony to drown out chants of "Down with Li Peng" with anexcuse of " relieving the atmosphere". While the underlying reasonwas to avoid embarrassing the Chinese leaders who might have had heard theslogans.

The investigation result of IPCC urged "the police should avoid tactics which have the effect of or which may reasonably give rise to the perceptionthat the rights of freedom of expression and of assembly and demonstration arebeing unnecessarily curtailed".

The public is furious that no punishment was made for the commander, Lee Ming Kwai in that incident. Instead, more ironically, he was recentlypromoted to be the head of the Complaints Against Police Office (CAPO).