Almost all officers in the 31,000-strong force have to report for duty on election day on Sunday, according to senior police source

As Hong Kong gears up for a key election on Sunday amid the city’s ongoing protest crisis, all polling stations will be guarded by armed officers in riot gear for the first time in the history of local polls, the Post has learned.

The police force will be on “maximum reserve” mode to thwart any disruptions or violence but maintain a “minimum presence” to avoid sowing fear among voters as they cast their ballots at the more than 600 polling stations for the district council elections.

A senior police source said that to enable such tight security, almost all officers in the 31,000-strong force, regardless of which division they are attached to, have to report for duty on election day, with 3,000 riot control officers and crime investigators on standby.

“On top of security guards, there are also armed police officers in riot control uniform and gear in every polling station. District officers will patrol their own area and handle any disturbance first,” the source said.

Another source said plain-clothes officers would be equipped with anti-stab vests and anti-slash neck protectors, in the wake of a series of attacks on police.

Police officers in riot control gear will stand guard at more than 600 polling stations across Hong Kong on Sunday. Photo: Dickson Lee

Police officers in riot control gear will stand guard at more than 600 polling stations across Hong Kong on Sunday. Photo: Dickson Lee

As Hong Kong gears up for a key election on Sunday amid the city’s ongoing protest crisis, all polling stations will be guarded by armed officers in riot gear for the first time in the history of local polls, the Post has learned.

The police force will be on “maximum reserve” mode to thwart any disruptions or violence but maintain a “minimum presence” to avoid sowing fear among voters as they cast their ballots at the more than 600 polling stations for the district council elections.

A senior police source said that to enable such tight security, almost all officers in the 31,000-strong force, regardless of which division they are attached to, have to report for duty on election day, with 3,000 riot control officers and crime investigators on standby.

“On top of security guards, there are also armed police officers in riot control uniform and gear in every polling station. District officers will patrol their own area and handle any disturbance first,” the source said.

Another source said plain-clothes officers would be equipped with anti-stab vests and anti-slash neck protectors, in the wake of a series of attacks on police.

Plain-clothes officers will be equipped with anti-stab vests and anti-slash neck protectors. Photo: Handout

Plain-clothes officers will be equipped with anti-stab vests and anti-slash neck protectors. Photo: Handout

He stressed, however, that to avoid voters worrying, the force’s presence around polling stations would be minimised but with enough officers on standby in the vicinity.

Alongside the security preparations, a number of candidates contesting the 452 seats up for grabs are also taking additional precautions such as blurring their supporters’ pictures on their social media accounts, not going out too late at night to canvass for support and keeping gatherings low-key.

Both camps across the political divide held campaign rallies on Thursday to drum up support for Sunday, with the pro-establishment bloc scaling back its campaign to avoid the attention of anti-government protesters.

The polls, held in the midst of the protest crisis now in its sixth month, will effectively be a referendum on the government and its allies and will have knock-on effects on the legislative elections next year, which draw candidates from among successful district councillors.

Anger against the government and police could erode the dominance of the pro-establishment side and mean more seats for the pan-democratic camp and galvanise the protest movement further.

China’s top leadership has urged the government to hold the elections as scheduled despite the ongoing unrest and the uphill battle facing the government’s allies, also dubbed the pro-Beijing camp, as the Post earlier reported.

On Thursday, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung reiterated the government’s determination to hold the elections in a fair and orderly manner

The Electoral Affairs Commission also announced earlier this week it would hire extra security guards and move four polling stations away from universities after some of the campuses became intense battlefields between protesters and police.