Hong Kong police force said if protesters didn’t resort to violence, the police wouldn’t respond with force as in the case of the mostly peaceful demonstrations in the past weekend.

At the daily press briefing, the police added that they hoped any upcoming protest would be as peaceful as those that took place on Aug 17 and 18.

The Hong Kong police is capable and determined to get the city back on track

Tse Chun-chung

chief superintendent of police public relations branch

In contrast, the chaos and unrest created by the violent protests in past two months have posed “unprecedented” challenges to Hong Kong, according to Tse Chun-chung, chief superintendent of police public relations branch, adding that under which circumstances, it would be unavoidable that there were voices both for and against the city’s police.

Regardless of what people have to say, the police — as a law enforcement agency — should always be at the forefront to confront violence and shoulder the responsibilities of maintaining law and order in the city, said Tse, who affirmed that the Hong Kong police is capable and determined to get the city back on track.

“Violence only begets violence, it’s never a solution,” added Tse, indicating that if the protesters continue to act in a peaceful and rational manner, the police “will not, and have no reason to, intervene”.

Responding to question about the wide gap between the headcounts of Sunday’s rally released by the police at 128,000 and the organizer Civil Human Rights Front’s estimate of 1.7 million, Kong Wing-cheung, senior superintendent of police public relations branch, said that the police only counted people inside the Victoria Park during the peak hour of the protest, and it’s used for the police’s operational planning and deployment.