Gov’t considers limiting protest rights

(File photo: May 1) The office of the secretary for Security plans to impose more restrictions on the right of freedom to assembly and demonstrate, to avoid serious injury to public order, Macau Business reported

The secretary for Security Cheong Kuoc Vá plans to impose more restrictions on the right of freedom to assembly and demonstrate, in order to avoid serious injury to public order, the safety of persons and property, according to this month’s Macau Business magazine.
After two recent defeats at the Court of Final Appeal that have rejected several efforts by the Administration to avoid protests on the streets, the Government is allegedly considering solving the problem using a new strategy. It plans to change the law itself by imposing more restrictions on the right of assembly and to prevent demonstrations, the magazine reported.
According to an assessment issued by the office of the secretary for Security and quoted by the Macau Business, it is time to consider “imposing restrictions of special scope, when, on reasonable grounds, one fears serious injury to public order and peace, and the safety of persons and property because of the inadequacy of the locations for assembly or demonstrations.”
It is dated May 7, just a few days after the Workers’ Day clashes between the police and protesters.
The assessment acknowledges that to limit the law is of “great social impact and sensitivity in the context of fundamental and political rights”.
For that reason, it continued, the law revision “furthermore following the recent events of May 1, may be interpreted as an exercise in shaping the law according to the convenience of the security authorities and Government and, as such, subject to some radicalisation that could lead to a more or less serious unrest and social and political instability.”
The Macau Daily Times tried to contact the secretary’s office for a comment, but the spokesperson said he knew nothing about the mentioned assessment and remained tight-lipped.
Before the May 1 protest this year, the Court of Final Appeal upheld two appeals against the denial of two requests to organise rallies by the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM). The court said that the Government could not restrict the use of public spaces for assembly and demonstration.
Nevertheless, the secretary’s cabinet does not regard the courts decision with concern, as it “dealt only with the area of jurisdiction of the IACM in what pertains to places of demonstrations and assembly”, the document says.
It added: “It doesn’t appear to us that, in the future, the same court will annul or thwart the decisions of the police corps in what concerns, according to their competencies, alterations to the routes of the demonstrations.”
After all, it added, “there are still sufficient grounds in the law to give them necessary legality, based on reasons of public order and safety”.