Hong Kong Ordinances

PUBLIC ORDER ORDINANCE - SECT 5

Prohibition of quasi-military organizations

(1) If the members or adherents of any society are-

   (a)  organized or trained or equipped for the purpose of enabling them to
        be employed in such a manner that such employment usurps, may usurp,
        tends to usurp or appears to usurp the functions of the police or the
        armed forces of the Crown; or

   (b)  organized and trained or organized and equipped for the purpose of
        enabling them to be employed for the use or display of physical force
        in promoting any political object, or in such manner as to arouse
        reasonable apprehension that they are organized and either trained or
        equipped for that purpose, then-

        (i)    any person who is a member or adherent of such society shall be
               guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction
               to a fine of $5000 and to imprisonment for 3 years; and

        (ii)   any person who takes part in the control or management of such
               society, or in organizing or training or equipping as aforesaid
               any members or adherents of the society, shall be guilty of an
               offence and shall be liable on conviction on indictment to
               imprisonment for 10 years and on summary conviction to a fine
               of $5000 and to imprisonment for 5 years.

(2) In any criminal proceedings under this section, proof of things done or of
words spoken, written or published, whether or not in the presence of a party
to the proceedings, by any person taking part in the control or management of
a society or in organizing, training or equipping members or adherents of a
society shall be admissible as evidence of the purposes for which, or the
manner in which, members or adherents of the society (whether those persons or
others) were organized or trained or equipped.