This photo taken on Aug 1, 2020 shows a man jogging along the waterfront in Hong Kong. (PHOTO/XINHUA)

HONG KONG – The Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) said on Tuesday it firmly supported steps taken by the HKSAR government and police to ensure peaceful National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations.

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The liaison office reaffirmed its support in a statement after some social groups issued a call to wreak havoc across the city during the upcoming holidays.

Regarding the illegal boundary-crossing of 12 Hong Kong residents, the office said the case is being dealt with according to the law.

The 12 suspects are in criminal detention and the mainland authorities have made a thorough investigation into their illegal activities, a spokesperson for the office said.

Some ill-intentioned people in Hong Kong have spread rumors to cover up their crimes and requested for the release of the 12. They also incited others to stage illegal gatherings on Thursday. Some radicals even claimed to purchase guns and bows, and plot terrorist attacks on police officers, the spokesperson said.

The acts of instigating subversion of the state power and attacks on law enforcement agencies and officers are blatant challenges to the National Security Law and other local laws, the spokesperson said.

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The spokesperson said that with the National Security Law in force, the order had been restored in Hong Kong.

The liaison office hoped Hong Kong people would see through a plot being hatched by a handful of people bent on harming the city and called on them to safeguard the prosperity and stability of the SAR.

With inputs from Xinhua