Lawmakers advise district council to let public have a say in proposed surveillance
No decision should be made on installing surveillance cameras on a busy Mong Kok shopping street before a proper public consultation has taken place, legislators have urged.
Three members of the Legislative Council's security panel have told Yau Tsim Mong District Council, which intends to have the cameras in operation as early as next month, not to go ahead before gauging public opinion about the potentially intrusive devices.
The plan is in response to an acid-throwing incident in Sai Yeung Choi Street South last month in which 46 people were hurt.
James To Kun-sun, deputy chairman of the security panel, said there was nothing to stop the council carrying out the plan, as long as it obeyed data privacy laws - which it had promised to do.
'But these sorts of decisions should not be left to district councils,' Mr To said. 'The whole of society's views should be heard. This part of Mong Kok is not just for Mong Kok residents ... and we should have a proper debate about what the appropriate solution is.'
